The Boy Who Would Be Emperor
by AlwaysBetOnVoid
Summary: The lowliest of humanity's sons is about to embark on a long, soul changing journey to humanity's highest pedestal. But while his blood hides him away from the prying eyes and malevolent hands of dark gods, many horrors both internal and external lay in wait, ready to test every inch of his being. As the dark days of Rhana Dandra approach, who will remain? The boy...or the Emperor?
1. This Is Not The End

**A/N: This story has been completely re-written to work out all of my logistical, lore, and all other errors that have plagued some readers. Plus, it will be more in depth with the Warhammer 40k universe. In the previous version, I think I let my imagination run on some concepts, perhaps too much.**

**For those of you that received my PM back in January...I changed my mind. I will be reverting back to the original universe themes of Warhammer 40k. Sure, this story will probably not be finished anytime soon and the amount of characters and concepts it will incorporate will be immense. In the end however, I think I can do it and this time I will not be giving up on it.**

**I have spent many months debating with myself and writing future chapters, so the full rewrite will come as I write it. ****It is also highly possible and all but guaranteed this story will move to the M section somewhere in its lifetime, just to give you a heads up.**

**I listened to the trailer music from "Edge of Tomorrow" while writing this chapter.**

**All rights belong to their respective owners, I only own OC's.**

**Questions? Thoughts? Rages? PM me.**

**Cover art by Heylenne on deviantart.**

* * *

**Long Ago...**

Humanity.

Hmmm...interesting.

Not perfect, but not entirely flawed. Right in the middle-flawed and perfect at the same time.

That is what we are.

If we are so flawed, than how did we come this far?

If we are so perfect, how did we become so vulnerable?

That was the sole purpose for which I was created by the Shamans, to prevent that vulnerability from manifesting into a horror never before seen in this reality. To manifest that perfection into an Imperium of a united human race.

It took many centuries, many forms, and many places to finally unite humanity.

It took too many deaths. My sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers. The death count of humans is uncountable, even I turn a blind eye towards it. So much blood and so many lifeless eyes fill the past. With a heavy and regretful heart, I accepted it.

But I achieved it! I united humanity! I did!

And in doing so, I set humanity on the path to eternal glory-to make this galaxy their own under my command and that of my sons-the warrior lords known simply as the Primarchs.

But...I failed them.

The last son that I thought could lead humanity to a brighter future nearly destroyed it. In my blindness of love for him, I could not see the dark taint that had slowly been infecting his mind until all hope had been lost. My sons were the greatest military commanders ever to have a human thought...but...I underestimated..._them_.

Though they far outnumber us and possess the power to overwhelm us at any given instant, they enjoy watching lesser beings toy around in their playground in the material universe, to them, it is all a simply game. The Blood God, The Prince of Excess, The Lord of Change, and the Plague God.

But still, I fight them even now, even with the tiny spark of life that remains with in me I fight, and they know they cannot surpass my love for my people, for it is insurmountable.

But they know my time grows short. Like predators stalking a sick animal they circle and wait for me to drop to my knees and it is then they will unleash a horror upon this galaxy that has not been seen since the Eldar spawned the fourth god from their own desires. I fear however, that this cataclysm will no doubt be unstoppable should it happen.

I am determined to prevent this.

But what can I do?

Here my physical body has been entombed on this Golden Throne for millenia as it clings to the faintest glimmer of life. Fueled partially by my own waning power and that of a thousand of my children each day.

A thousand.

Every. Single. Day.

They do not want to die yet...they want to die...for me.

With great pain and much remorse, I accept their sacrifice, for I am the anchor that keeps humanity from being blown overboard into a sea of daemons, aliens, and far worse horrors. No other human as the power or dynamic mind capable enough of sustaining the Astronomican.

Each day I hear their death cries sound as one and for the briefest of instants, they are wracked with unimaginable pain as their minds are temporarily exposed the horrors of the untamed warp.

And then, they are with me.

Safe.

For now.

Sometimes I wonder if my custodians, who stand watch no more than a couple feet away...can feel what I feel. They are the closest to me and by far some of the most devoted humans that ever been created.

Can they feel my pain? Most likely not. They are more focused on anything and everything that comes through the massive gates not far ahead of me.

Though, they are well aware of the horrors that try to gain entrance to my home every day. They have faith in me just as I have faith in them. It is almost as if they know when my battles begin each day-for the slightest movement in each is visible.

It is the youngest of Chaos Gods that speaks to me.

The Prince of Excess whispers to me, "**You continue to fight Anathema for millenia on end. Surely you must be tired and weary after simply holding yourself aloft for so long? I watched your sons, your firstborn fall one after the other to our guilty pleasures. Wouldn't you like to see them again? I know you had a love for your greatest son even when you struck him down. Your sins way heavily upon your shoulders, allow me to alleviate that pressure.**"

I can feel the disgusting presence of that self-absorbed bitch floating through the warp. I want to grasp her by her throat and pour every ounce of my energy into her so that she may know true agony after inflicting it upon my people.

_Save your words, they mean nothing._

The goddess, or thing, seems to have inherited some sort of Eldar playfulness when it comes to species they deem inferior, **"So brash and rejecting...and brave...You remind me of those that seek to evade my deathly whispers with that whore Isha's tears that fall from their lost homeworlds. You seem to actually hold onto some belief that you can hold out on your own? Perhaps your race's youth betrays its intelligence, like it had any to begin with.**"

I laugh at the youngest of the deities.

_So hypocritical of you to call the goddess a whore when it is you that is the epitome of said word. Even now, the race that spawned you continues to evade you like clever prey._

She replies, "**Their days will come like the ones I already enjoy tormenting every second. Soon, yours will too.**" She laughs, "**That day may come sooner than you think.**"

I sigh at her response.

_If you cannot even defeat the ones that spawned you, what does that say about you? You are weak like your brothers. You are too prideful yet too afraid._

The Prince of Excess seems amused by my rejection, "**It is the same conversation over and over again Anathema. Think of it as playing with food before the main course, however, I'm not nearly as interested in you as I am the entire Eldar race...oh I can taste all of their souls at once!**"

_Be careful what you play with Prince, your prey might just bite back._

"**Oh of course it bites back, it tries to hide from me, it tries to make itself stronger and more versatile. It even tries to stow away its soul from me forever. However, even they must realize that the kiss of Chaos touches all of you, save those who have no presence here...I nevertheless will consume you all.**"

_For years you have sent your vessels into the material world only to be crushed by the mightiest of my soldiers, there is no force that they cannot match. To enter the material world is to enter the world of mortals...perhaps...you are afraid? Oh yes indeed you are prince, your youth betrays you. You are no commander, you are no general, you have only tasted the deaths of those who cannot defend themselves...Just wait until you meet prey thousands of times more powerful than the Bloody Handed God. That fool is to full of his arrogance and pride to fight fully._

"**Oh? And what mortal do you say dare challenge me? Even a powerful weaklings could simply not survive even a hint of my gaze and now they have lost themselves in the warp. Great leaders denied to their people by their own curiosity and arrogance. If an Eldar more powerful than even your strongest son cannot survive me...who can?**" she laughs.

_The Eldar have their own, but it will be me that rips the very lifeblood from your wretched body._

Though I know it is highly unlikely in my state. The Prince of Excess may have taken one of my sons but her gloating will only prepare her for a crushing defeat. She grows disgusted and and I feel her disappear from my sight.

I nearly laugh to myself, she never was nor is the smartest of their lot.

Suddenly, I feel perhaps l the greatest blood lust in my existence enter the warp. Little do any of my sons and daughters know that these deities are always in the material universe, just not in full form in their avatars of Greater Daemons. I have felt only a small offshoot of the Bloody Handed God's power when his avatar is awakened for battle and from that I have deduced what the true God must be like.

But he is nothing like this.

The Blood God cares for no one save a small ounce of satisfaction that his minions bring to him when they slaughter innocents and soldiers alike by the billions. His followers are unmatched in the galaxy for fanaticism to their patron as they are lured by false promises of gifts and glory everlasting.

Khorne laughs at my efforts to keep humanity aloft in a galaxy at war, "**Your endurance only continues to impresses me Anathema. To drink from a goblet filled with your appetizing blood would be of the greatest satisfaction to my tastes.**"

I remain vigilant as he **continues,** "**Do the deaths of your sons and daughters mean nothing to you? Your race is so consumed by pride and arrogance of their own self-righteousness that they cannot see the inevitable taint of Chaos within each of their souls. It is a waiting infection, it will soon consume you all.**"

_You're wrong, that is all you ever will be._

"**The irony of your statement amuses me Anathema! You are correct, I am wrong...it has ****_already _****consumed you. Soon the fires and hells of the warp will rain down on from the great storm and their will be no stopping my wrath. I will not be denied the blood of every single sentient creature in this damn universe...and there is nothing you can do to halt that which is inevitable.**"

The Blood God may not have a strong psychic presence on the battlefield but what his minions lack in that field they make up for in brute strength and numbers. Their fanaticism has sent them beyond the definition of insanity into pure chaos so that their minds are his to command for all of eternity.

"**Our fanaticism is the same Anathema. Your kin will fight and die for you like no other just like mine.**" the Blood God says.

_You care nothing for your fallen minions, you care not from where the blood comes from, only that it flows. You are no God, you are a murderer and a savage, nothing more._

"**So kind of you to compliment me so. Indeed, murder and savagery are my specialties.**" he laughs and he disappears back into the bleeding hole in the universe.

I begin to weep.

What have my sons and daughters become?

An empire that rivals that that the Eldar once had and yet it is perverted by crime, heresy, betrayal, incompetence, and anger. Where did the Imperium of Man go wrong? I simply cannot understand that they have fallen so far from the light. I can understand why the Eldar see so much of themselves in us.

My Adeptus Astartes legions still hold their faith, it is they I have faith to uphold my banner in the absence. There are few others I would place my faith in than them and even then, my faith will always hold out.

Faith...

Hope...

Two characteristics unique to only righteous minded creatures.

But what do I hope for? Some part of me says I know the answer to what I hope for but still refuse to acknowledge its validity. The other part of me does not know.

"**I know.**"

An intruder.

Heretic.

Chaos.

Stinking menace.

"**I am none of those.**" it says.

Lies.

No being but select Gods and other powers have the ability to commune with me.

It is an intruder.

Burn it.

"**I have been watching you human. In fact, I have always watched you.**"

Plausible, many beings watch the Emperor.

I cannot pinpoint its origins, though it has a warp signature.

It appears like a distant star that stands out among the rest, like an all seeing eye.

Tzeenetch, the Changer of Ways.

"**A noble**** guess, but no. Even he cannot be me. The fool believes he knows all, when he is actually blind.**"

I am one of the few to defy the Chaos gods and survive.

This...thing...is trying to join the ranks.

Then what is it?

This...eye in the stars...

"**I am one of the first. I am none of you yet I am all of you. Humans to be exact.**"

Stop speaking in riddles and show yourself.

"**Such is the mood of those who are all but defeated. You have sat on a throne for thousands of years watching humanity and unbeknownst to you...I have watched _all _of**** it.**"

Is it trying to persuade me that it is more intelligent than me? If so, it is doing a very poor job.

"**There are many things that I am that you are not human. But that is not why I have come to you today.**"

It will not be trusted.

"**I am not expecting you to trust me, for you are the first being on par with me that I have desired to reach out to. Or rather, you are the only one that I desire to speak with.**"

What is that you want?

"**Not what I want, but what you want as well. Tell me human, what is that you desire most-at this very moment. I already know it. You just have to decide whether or not you wish to lie.**"

I am starting to believe that whatever this thing is, it is not of Chaos origin. Its warp presence is unlike most entities I have felt-it is not malicious or deceiving like most but more...calculated.

I think for a while, why bother asking me that question if it already knows the truth? All it had to do was simply say the words that I had been thinking and I would have believed it.

I desire to be whole again.

"**Don't we all?**"

So you are not whole either?

"**I am but a presence here, I used to be whole like most...but that time is long gone and with it-my hopes for being whole again.**"

You are here to lecture me about musing on my sorrows?

"**No, I am here to persuade you.**"

Persuade me to not give up hope. You need not worry about that, I will never give up the fight for humanity.

"**That is a given even in your state. What I ask for is indeed hope, but not in the form you would think of.**"

Elaborate.

"**Let us see human...your species is on the brink of collapse both from within and from outside and there is no obvious light of hope for you to see is there?**"

...

...

...

"**Is there?****"**

I cannot tell a lie.

"**That's what I thought you'd say. Typical of you human to acknowledge the inevitable.**"

That which you think is inevitable will never come to pass.

"**False. You are dying and you know it. You're primitive technology cannot hope to sustain a being of your power for much longer. You know this. It is a creeping feeling on your spine. You deny it like a coward. Fearful of the end and when you cry out in the end you are silenced because you chose not to believe in inevitability.**"

My faith and love for humanity has kept me alive for centuries. There is no reason to believe it is not as strong as it ever was.

"**Faith and love can only get so far can they? How far did you get by blade and the spilling of blood?**"

Not far enough.

"**It is irrelevant.**"

Then what is relevant?

"**That you understand exactly why I have come to you today.**"

I still do not know you and therefore I will not trust you.

"**That will be a problem.**"

Why is that?

"**Trust is the single most important characteristic we must share between each other.**"

Why is that?

"**Because I seek the same goal as you...rebirth.**"

Rebirth.

Rebirth...

To be whole again.

I have contemplated the idea many times, there exists no way for me to join my sons and daughters on the battlefields...You said that I deny the inevitable...Well I am telling you that I do not deny that I do not know what my future beholds. I am no Eldar.

Why would you need rebirth?

"**Because I am like you human...I am...a righteous creature.**"

What assurance can you give me? I know nothing of you. You are of the warp. Yet you hide.

"**Indeed I do hide, because like you...I am weak. Weak from age and weary from battle. Assurance? Ahaha...Human...I have done battle against the horrors of this galaxy since the forces of evil first reared their heads in this galaxy. You need not know who I am but only that I share the goal of defeating the horrors that plague our galaxy and reestablishing a peace that once ruled.**"

Then there can be no trust between us.

"**Is that so...**"

I have nothing more to say to you. Even if you seek a righteous resolution, you're refusal to reveal yourself makes you suspicious, and the threat of Chaos is ever present.

"**I was never talking about a threat to you human...but to your son.**"

I have many sons. Most are dead, missing, or lost to the ruinous powers.

"**I wasn't talking about**** your perverted experiments with eugenics. I was talking about a different son.**"

Elaborate.

"**Only if you trust me.**"

And why would I trust you? Because you know of this...son of mine?

"**Are you actually denying the claim that all fathers care for their sons?**"

That notion strikes a deep chord within my heavy heart. Of course I care for my sons, even now, I still love and mourn the ones that I have lost and will never see the light of humanity in again.

Of course I care for my sons.

"**Then do you trust me when I say that you have a son you cannot see?**"

Cannot see? Is he...

"**No. He is unique you see. He is a...true son. He is you, and you are him.**"

True son. Direct blood descendant. From one of my spouses in the old times...

"**You cannot see him, but I can.**"

My son...why can I not see my son?

"**It is humorous to know that you turned a blind eye towards his kind long ago in favor of your...other...sons. Why should you care about him now?**"

All fathers care for their sons. Tell me where he is.

"**And why should I? Your want and thirst for knowledge can lead you astray.**"

Because I want to see my son. The one you speak of.

"**You will not see him for some time. This is precisely what I wanted to get to human.**"

What do you want me to know?

"**I want you to know, recognize, and understand that this boy is the key to everything. To peace. To the end of all evils. To rebirth.**"

How is this possible?

"**You are asking that question because of your own faults human. It was you that turned a blind eye to your true son and as a result, you know nothing about him. It is I that have watched them and studied him. I know more about him than you ever could.**"

I am at a loss. You are right.

"**Indeed. And now human, back to what I have been trying to persuade you of this entire time. I need you trust me, for it is the most valuable asset to us at this time. It is trust that will enable me to guide him to you.**"

To me.

"**He is hidden, and for good reason. We both know that the horrors of the warp and the void scour the galaxy-seeking any bright star and snuffing it out quickly before it can mature.**"

Hidden from..._t__hem_.

"**Yes, they cannot see him**."

And he...is the key.

"**He is the only key.**"

So the choice comes down to this-to trust this hidden warp entity and what it says about my true son being the key to my rebirth, or to refuse it and once again live another day with the death of another thousand of my children. If it had been a malicious entity, it would have killed my son already, instead it says it has studied and known about him this entire time.

While I cannot see him, for he is hidden from my vision.

My fate is in my own hands, as is my sons.

It takes me several moments, or several years for me to make my choice.

I trust you.

"**Would you like to see your true son now?**"

Yes.

"**Very well.**"

If I am going to trust you, then I must know who you are.

"**Curious how you haven't deduced it by now.**"

I am not keen on riddles.

"**I go by one name.**"

And what is that?

"**The One.**"


	2. Son of Man

**Imperial Agri-World of Yama Enda (Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector, Sub-sector Gethsamane)**

He was carefree, well...mostly carefree.

Imperial Agri-Worlds were second to Industrial worlds in terms of production of materials or more specifically food for the Imperium's military as well as its people, and second to Hive Worlds in terms of producing humans for labor and the Guard and or PDF.

So why was he carefree? Today was different.

Today Yama Enda celebrated the end of a bountiful harvest wheat that it mainly produced to export. He stood in the middle of one of his family's small plots of wheat fields looking over the golden crops that stretched almost as far as the eye could see. In the distance, he could see the stone wall that stretched horizontally across his view that marked his family's estate.

Deciding that it was probably getting late, and his mother Kelia would be finished with dinner soon, he began his walk back across the fields towards his family's estate. He would take his time as usual-savoring every last bit of the beautiful environment that was his home. He extended his hand downward and glided his hand above the tops of the wheat stalks and watched as the wind blew waves across the fields. Looking to his left and his right, he breathed in the sweet scent of Yama Enda and sighed with satisfaction.

He looked forward again as the stone wall grew closer but was still a very long way off.

That was when he heard a giggle behind him.

He raised an eyebrow and turned around to see someone disappear into the taller wheat off to the side. He automatically knew who it was when he saw the faint tint of crimson hair behind them but pretended like he hadn't noticed. He smiled, and continued walking towards his home.

He did not hear much for a couple minutes before he deduced that the person that was following him was probably in full view behind him now. He smirked as he plotted how to surprise her. Stopping to admire his father's fields once more, he waited a couple seconds before quickly turning around and bursting backward. The surprised young woman who had been following him squealed in surprise as he tackled her onto her back, quickly bringing their lips together as he pinned her arms to the side.

Suddenly, he felt her bring her legs up and kick out with surprising strength, causing him to gasp as the air left his lungs and collapsed on his back. She immediately giggled and got up and took off running towards the stone wall.

He growled at the pain that had been inflicted on him but he disregarded it when he saw her getting a good ten second start on him. He brought his legs up in front of his face and kicked himself to his feet and chased her with all his strength. He easily closed the distance as she struggled to hold up her dress which both inhibited are from running but allowed the pointy wheat to poke her in her legs wheres he was clothed in his trademark sweats, tunic, and form fitting boots.

He began to hear her laughing and squealing as she turned every so often to see him getting closer and closer until finally he latched onto her waist and spun them both around until they lost their balance and collapsed into a soft bed of wheat.

Closing his eyes, he sighed at the happiness of the moment but felt something wet and sweet meet his lips. He reacted by wrapping his arms around her waist as she did his neck and let the kiss sink in. When they broke again, she rested her head on his chest and murmured, "I love you Thomas."

"And I love you Sif." he replied, nuzzling their noses as she looked up.

He immediately noticed how beautiful she looked with her crimson hair floating in the wind against the backdrop of the fields and the setting sun, an artist could not have asked for a better painting if it were staring him in the face. Her piercing emerald eyes were so entrancing he could get lost in them like an abyss, as he had always wanted to since that fateful day.

Since that day he had rescued her from drowning in a lake, he intended to keep the promise to marry her someday a reality in the future. It wasn't like the local townsfolk weren't aware of it too. The Makeo and Altor families had been friends since the Imperium first discovered this profitable world millenia ago and as the eldest living Makeo descendant of the next generation and the only child left in the Altor family, citizens had been making jokes that they were bonded even before they were born.

"I wish we could just lay like this forever."

"That's selfish of you."

"Is it? I know you're thinking the same thing."

"Oh it is in there somewhere, but our duties are to are families first of all."

"But of course."

"...Thomas...It's getting late. It is Sunday after all, my father and I are coming over later tonight for dinner remember?"

"How could I forget? I await each Sunday as if the week were an eternity."

"Such a philosopher, no wonder Virgil considers you his best."

"Oh well thank you very much."

With that, Sif pushed herself off him, causing him to grunt once more and she giggled at his labor, "Don't be such an infant!"

"Alright, let me push your stomach and you see how it feels."

"Manners my love, manners. Anyway, I'll be seeing you tonight." she finished as she planted a light kiss on his cheek and skipped away towards her own estate.

He watched her go and sighed, it was like every time he watched her leave it was as if some part of him left with her. He was starting to believe in that bond that the townsfolk gossiped about, and he wanted that to remain for as long as they both lived.

Sticking his hands in his pockets, he continued his scenic walk. It was unusual that the stone wall seemed further away now. Glad that the sensations of feeling Yama Enda's essence seemingly flow through his fingers were returning and continued gliding his hands over the wheat.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, he was surprised that the environment had changed. The world around him seemed to have been dipped in a light blue mixer. The clouds and sun still hung high in the sky and the wheat still blew with the wind, but other than that, nothing else seemed different.

He blinked again, and the golden aura of his home had returned. He shook off the vision as a simple but quick day dream and continued admiring the world around him, while others might boast about the paradise worlds they gorged themselves on, he was quite happy with what he had here, he could not have asked for anything else.

"To think, that some would deem this world inferior to a paradise." said a voice beside him.

He turned to the source of the voice and nodded his head at the newcomer. The owner of the new voice was a grown man wearing simply grey robes with a rope tied around his waist. An elongated oval shaped helmet covered his head from the top down to just below his eyes and the back of his head. His left hand was inside a pocket while his right held a grey staff with an elaborate golden aquila.

"Virgil."

"Thomas."

He continued walking with his teacher through the wheat fields as both of them took in the scenery around them. He looked at his teacher and noticed a warm smile was forming on his face, even if he had never seen Virgil's eyes.

"Indeed, it is all I will ever ask for."

"Really? If you we're given the chance to become a glorious warrior in the name of the Emperor, would you take that chance?"

"Of course not."

"Elaborate."

"I am no warrior, I am a farmer. The only weapon you will ask me to take up is metal tools to fend off packs of rabid dogs."

"Do you believe that the soldiers that fight for the Emperor are wrong in their mindsets?"

"No, I do not believe so and I will tell you why-they had a different upbringing than mine, born on a different world that may have required all of its citizens to do some part on the battlefield. It is a choice I was not able to make...choosing when and where to be born but I am glad the Emperor put me here. What about you?"

"Me? Oh I'm afraid I am unable to answer that question young one. It has been long since I saw the battles of the Great War and although I did the Emperor a service with his armies, I think I may be done with it for the time being."

"I'm just surprised that of all the people on Yama Enda, you are the only one not from here and the only one that has seen the great war."

"I do not take offense to your words because I know your own mindset, as your other teachers must have taught you by now. I will never tell you what I did on the battlefields because this is not the time and this is not the place."

"Of course."

"It does not mean that it should be ignored for the instant that we do forget that humanity is fighting for its very existence against aliens and heretics is also the moment we are most vulnerable to the predators of the void."

There was silence for a moment.

"Do not act so surprised Thomas, for an average farm hand you have the intelligence of the orphans who come from the Schola Progenium. There are many who are not as trustful of me as perhaps you or Sif. They believe me to be as volatile as a un-exploded artillery shell. This is the real universe that goes on outside of our home, war plagues this galaxy like a persistent pestilence. You should consider yourself so lucky."

"But I do, I know of the great war that is being fought as we speak."

"Then do not be so quick as to live a carefree life for in this day and age, somewhere and somehow no matter how we live...the war will touch us all."

"I don't understand how you could be so cold at a time like this. Yama Enda is celebrating its most bountiful harvest in a couple centuries and you speak of war as if it is knocking on our door? Surely people like you can't feel some extent of happiness."

"It is hard, harder than you think. War leaves its mark even on those who even barely breathe in its scent."

"But that's not you."

"Of course it isn't. Do you know why?"

At that point, the pair were only a couple yards away from the stone gate in the middle of the wall that opened up to his family's estate. Virgil looked from side to side before saying, "I think it is time for me to leave."

Virgil turned to him and smiled, "Farewell young one, until we meet again." with that his teacher turned around and headed back in the direction that they had just come from, surprisingly humming to himself.

He looked at the wall and was surprised to see to see the strange day dream from earlier had returned. He looked to his left and right and saw everything exactly how it was, but it was as if someone had dipped the environment in light blue paint. The clouds still rolled in the sky and the wheat swayed like waves. He looked back at the gate to his family's estate and instinctively reached out to push it open with his right arm.

As the gate swung open, that was when he noticed his arm-bloodied and bruised. His eyes grew wide and before he could yell, he blinked, and the vision was gone.

He looked backward but Virgil was already out of sight and there was no one around. What had he just experienced? This had never happened to him before. He shook his head and pushed open the gate and began walking up the path towards his house at the top of the hill. As he did so, he disregarded Virgil's cold words about the Great War outside his homeworld's atmosphere. Yama Enda had not seen much of any of the war and there was no reason to believe it would be now.

When he finally reached his house, he pushed open the front door to find his sister Minerva playing with her dolls on the living room floor. She turned to face him.

"Hi big bruder." she said, her youth still heavily affecting her voice. He smiled and walked over to her and rustled with her black hair, causing her to giggle and squeal as he tickled her sides.

"Evening squirt. Where is mother and father?" he asked.

"Making dinna. Where's Sifie?" she asked, looking behind him as she had expected to see Sif arrive with him. He closed his eyes and smirked.

"She'll be over later. You behave yourself this time and use your manners. No one likes it when you eat food with your hands you dirty child." he said.

"Meanie!" Minerva shot back before she returned to playing with her dolls.

"But at least I'm a truthful meanie." he said over his shoulder as he made his way to the kitchen in the northwest part of the two story house. As he neared it, he breathed in the smell of heating sauce and heard his mother clanging pots and pans together as she prepared food for seven-the Makeo family as well as Sif and her mother and father.

He heard his father moving around in the kitchen too and from what he was hearing as he slowed down, his mother wasn't exactly happy with how his father was helping.

"Kayson, do you even know how to boil water?"

"Of course I do! Who do you take me for?"

"Then why is the temperature at sixty instead of a hundred?"

"The damn meter is broken again blast it."

"No, it is not, you simply just don't even know how to cook. Why don't you make yourself useful and start preparing the table hmmm?"

"But I feel useless if I cannot learn to cook!"

"Useless you say? Kayson you are the father of my children and you plow fields for hours on end each day. You aren't useless at all. In fact, you're irreplaceable. You need to stop worrying about what you don't need to do and worry about what you indeed _can _do."

"Huh...fine."

"Hey, come here my love..."

"Kellia...I'm sorry, it's just I feel like I'm not even here sometimes..."

The young man rolled his eyes as the same old love bird conversation between his parents got underway. I love you...you love me yada, yada, yada. If he wasn't here and Minerva was out with her friends, than the conversation usually concluded in a much more...intimate...activity. He could see it in their actions and words as they teased each other relentlessly.

His stomach grumbled and he looked down. It would probably be for the best of his mother got back to cooking. He leaned over the entrance to the kitchen and saw Kellia and Kayson holding each other and kissing passionately.

He shook his head and said, "If you love birds aren't busy. I'll have you know that Sif and her parents will be here in ten minutes."

Kellia yelped in surprise while Kayson awkwardly scratched his head. Kellia responded, "Oh yes, Thomas be good my love and help your father set the table. I'll judge it at the end to see if he can even complete that job."

The boy rolled his eyes and set about preparing for the arrival of Sif and her family.

* * *

_Thomas, even though you cannot hear me, I speak unto you now. A storm is approaching that you will be unable to evade. It will destroy all that you know and all that you have worked for. I weep at the thought because I know this will happen. I have seen it happen and have watched its results._

_I have seen what you can become. Even though I have never met you, I have seen it._

_Your love for your family, for your friends, for all life...is what sets you apart._

_It will take you places, places you never even dreamed or heard of. _

_You will be tested and trained, set on a path that will bring us together as one._

_It pains me to know many will disappear from my sight forever. However, even though this storm will wrack your mind and body to the very core of your being, I still have hope._

_Hope, that one day, we will meet._

_And we will have much to discuss._


	3. The Melody

**Imperial Agri-World of Yama Enda (Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector, Sub-sector Gethsamane)**

The dinner with Sif and her family had gone very well but Thomas still put his head in his hands when Minerva had simply ignored his earlier pleas and devoured her food with her very hands while ignoring the utensils. While Kayson and Kellia, along Sif's parents-Aurelian and Joria-found Minerva's actions to be the epitome of cuteness from a six-year old, Thomas still thought she should be learning to act like a lady.

Who knows when he'd have to break her future boyfriend's jaw if they treated her anything but a lady.

Thomas sighed and wiped the sweat from his brow and took a sip of his canteen. The sun was almost at its highest point in the sky and the blue sky itself was very clear, a perfect day to take his narboar, Petunia, on another plowing run.

The human and the narboar were currently at the far end of wheat field designation 46-Z, having just plowed for two straight hours to get to this point and now Thomas stopped to catch his breath and look at his beautiful beast.

Petunia the narboar was like the grandmother to the Makeo family-having in fact served two generations of Makeo's before Thomas was given the reins to the old lady. She was well muscled, durable, and very responsive to both Thomas and his father. A narboar had massive tusks that curled upward with age and a big black body covered in similarly short black hair. She had a very wide body, nearly four feet, and her height rose to just below Thomas' shoulders, and he was tall himself at six feet.

Some would have described her as a vicious beast if they saw her for the first time but the fact was the narboars were vegetarians and among the gentlest creatures on Yama Enda. They were so gentle in fact that they were treated like family by their owners and when they passed away, they were given proper funerals like any person would have had. Petunia, being nearly one hundred and eighty years old, had been the single greatest worker on the Makeo farm since she was old enough to drive plows.

"Alright Petunia, take a break, we're on the home stretch anyway." he patted the massive narboar on her side and began unclasping her harness.

Petunia raised her snout to the left where Thomas was and gave a couple grunts of acknowledgement as Thomas patted and stroked her head. She then trotted off in the direction of the nearby pond to take a drink.

Thomas sighed and looked out of the paths he and Petunia had paved for seeds to be planted by his family's workers, who had already started, Thomas could see, far away and he could only vaguely make out their outlines in the distance.

He walked back to the V-shaped plow and reached into the plow's compartment and took out his lunch while slinging his canteen over his shoulder. Before he closed the compartment, he pulled out an envelope that had only just arrived at his house this morning.

With his refreshments and envelope in hand, he made his way to the giant oak tree a couple of yards away which was said to be over three hundred years old according to his mother. He sighed as he felt the instant temperature change against his skin when he came under the shade of the tree's massive branches.

Yama Enda was in just the right position from its sun to give it a temperature next to ideal for planting crops and devoting much of its population to do just that. It had one massive continent which covered a little over half the planet while the rest was a deep blue ocean which was unusually devoid of all life. Just a vast bucket of water and salt.

Thomas didn't mind, his place was on land, plowing the fields with Petunia.

He sat down with a grunt and had his back to the trunk of the tree. Popping open his square container, he began feasting hungrily on the small sandwiches his mother had packed for him. Plowing fields did a lot to make him hungry by the time he reached opposite ends of the fields.

As he swallowed a mouthful, he grabbed the envelope and quickly tore open the flap to the letter he knew was inside from someone he was expecting the letter to be from. He placed the destroyed envelope in his container and flipped the letter over and began to read.

_To my brother from another mother,_

_Greetings Thomas. As I write to you now, I am currently sitting in the Trade Guild Dusclia's guest room and I will tell you my friend-the definitions of "luxury" are vastly different when comparing Yama Enda and the planet of Gudrun. The amount of items that flow through the town of Dorsay and the variety of said items is unimaginable. Robes, furs, spices, pets you name it-it's all here. It's not like I'm surprised that all these things are here, this is a home to the Noble house of the Glaws after all._

_Uncle Deslo is currently in talks with the Guild's supervisors to see if he can't get some improved plows shipped to Yama Enda and possible some experimental seeds of new crops. Although I am bit apprehensive about bringing new technology to Yama Enda of all places, who says Yama Enda can't have some room to produce more for the Emperor's legions?_

_While the population, exotics, and technology here on planet Gudrun is vastly different from Yama Enda and equally enticing, I find myself missing the wheat fields of home. I'm no farmer and I know that one day I will succeed Uncle Deslo, but I simply can't help but be homesick. I'm pretty sure the old man feels the same way, I can see it when he gets frustrated when the terms to a deal can't be reached almost immediately. _

_The scribe work is heavy duty and I regret to make this letter short but as you are well aware-duty calls. Say hello to your parents for me and little Minerva too, I hope to bring back a doll or trinket for her as a souvenir, but don't you dare tell her that. _

_Until next time my friend, _

_Yours truly,_

_Alessandro Lornar_

Thomas smiled and folded the letter he had received from one of his oldest friends here on Yama Enda. He, Sif, and Alessandro had been sort of a ragtag group when they were younger-doing anything and everything together-from going to festivals to exploring the hills and small forests on the outskirts of the farms.

Sindri had lost both of his parents to sickness when he was young and thus did not remember much, if anything about them. He does however keep a picture of them and his toddler self with him at all times however and he does it proudly. His uncle, Deslo Lornar, who was his mother's brother, immediately jumped at the opportunity to raise Alessandro, who had no other immediate family members and Deslo himself was without a family. Since then, uncle and nephew had developed a working and family bond like father and son, though Deslo vehemently refused to be acknowledged as Alessandro's father, of whom Deslo had respected dearly.

He put the letter back in his container and sighed as he took the last bite of his sandwich and took another swig of his water. Looking around, he scanned the field for any unusual activity or incoming personnel but as far as he could tell, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

As he admired his handy work, he thought back to Virgil's words a couple of days ago and the question his teacher had asked him.

_If you we're given the chance to become a glorious warrior in the name of the Emperor, would you take that chance?_

Thomas snickered at the comment, of course he wouldn't. He was no soldier, he was a farmer! He'd never picked up an autogun or lasgun like the security forces carried around in his life and he had no intention to. His body was built to plow fields and direct narboars, not to fight the Emperor's many enemies.

He was serious when he said he knew about the great war that consumed the galaxy around him and had heard the stories from travelers of the Emperor's Adeptus Astartes fighting countless enemies. He read stories of the brave defenses set up by different Imperial Guard regiments and how their devotion and zeal to the Emperor had triumphed above heretic and alien alike.

He had never seen a heretic or an alien and he had no intention ever to do so because the two words sent shivers down his spine.

He was glad he had been born here and not some forge world or recruitment world where his conscription into the Guard or Planetary Defense Forces would have been all but certain. Every able body on Yama Enda was devoted to agricultural trade, production, or processing in one way or the other and for good reason.

Thomas yawned and look to the left, Petunia was off in the tall brush on the other side of the pond, probably on the trail of something her giant nose couldn't resist. He decided to give her a little more rest because she probably had not drank her fill of water yet, which he knew was essential to her ability to work just as food was.

He figured that maybe forty five minutes to an hour power nap won't hurt anyone.

The boy had only closed his eyes for barely a minute before a sharp gust of wind blew against him and rolled his lunch container and canteen across the ground and caused him to reopen his eyes.

_That's strange, there was only a gentle breeze a couple moments ago..._he thought as he looked to his left and then to his right. He looked up and saw the tree branches were once again moving slowly in the early spring breeze.

He didn't know why he was so suspicious of the sharp gust but he could have sworn it felt like a momentary hurricane had blown over him and he saw that his container and canteen had rolled off far away into the field.

Thomas sighed and shook his head as he got up and walked over to retrieve the two items and he put them pack into the plow's storage are under the handles.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a branch breaking. A couple seconds later and he heard the branch hit the ground and its leaves flop against the dirt at the base of the tree trunk.

He raised an eyebrow and turned around to look at the tree and its large umbrella of leaves and plant life. Thomas became suspicious when he saw it was shifting rather heavily from side to side for a couple seconds before it stopped.

Thomas looked off to the right and called out, "PETUNIA?"

The narboar gave a loud grunt of identification but was still busy grazing and drinking water from the pond. Thomas cocked his head and walked over to the place where he had previously been lying down and looked up into the tree. He could see the sunlight coming through the branches in leaves in pieces as it blew through the tree slightly.

He shook his head, why was he so worked up about a sudden gust? Thomas looked down and was about to call Petunia back when all of a sudden he heard the leaves above him rustle sharply and before he could even think about turning around, cold and smooth fingers wrapped themselves around the back of his neck and forced him onto the dirt-mushing his mouth into and filling it with grit.

Thomas snarled and tried to move against his attacker but whoever it was then pinned his arms to the ground with knees to the backs of his shoulders-immediately immobilizing him. The fingers while cold were surprisingly smooth but one thing he did feel was razor edged nails against his neck and throat.

Suddenly, a voice like a melody spoke, "_Druchii Mon'Keigh...Druchii...hacas nede._" The voice was unlike anything Thomas had ever heard before because not only did the voice have a sort of chorus, like a song, to it, it definitely wasn't human. No human had a voice like that and neither did it speak low gothic.

That was all his attacker said before he felt a blunt object hit the back of his head and the world wen't black.

* * *

Sometime later, Thomas' eyes fluttered open when he felt a very rough sensation licking at his face. He blinked a couple of times before he tasted dirt in his mouth and got to his knees as he wiped the grit from his mouth and spat violently. The massive narboar grunted as she gave him one last lick to make sure he was awake before moving back to the plow to signal she was ready to get back to work.

It was an ugly taste to have dirt around have you're mouth and even though Thomas wiped most of it away, the foul taste lingered.

He felt the back of his head and winced as he touched it.

Had he been dreaming? The last thing he remembered was an odd voice saying something melodic, almost as if it had sung a sentence to him before he had slipped into unconsciousness. He could hear it in his head when he tried to repeat it, his tongue twisted as he tried to pronounce it and what came out sounded a lot like someone gagging.

Though he could still hear it...

_Druchii Mon'Keigh...Druchii...hacas nede..._

What the hell did that mean? It certainly wasn't low Gothic and he had heard bits and pieces of high Gothic every now and then and what he had heard was not that either.

He looked down.

_How the hell did I get on the ground? Why is there dirt in my mouth? What is this weird voice I hear in my head? Why does the back of my head hurt so much?_

These questions raced around his mind very quickly and only seemed to make his headache worse so he took a couple deep breaths before getting to his feet and feeling around to make sure he wasn't missing any of his body. He had a habit for doing such things after he had seen one of his friends almost get disembodied by an automatic plow.

He looked around once more before shaking his head and moving back to the plow-hooking Petunia up to it once more before slapping her sides to let her know that they could continue with their plowing. Petunia let out a long grunt before she began to pull once more and Thomas took the handles of the plow in the back and followed her.

They continued to plow the rest of the field for the next hour with no other unusual occurrences before they finally reached the end. The whole time however, Thomas just continued to blink and shake his head-he couldn't get this voice and its sentence out of his head-it was literally stuck and it worried him. Perhaps he just needed to lay down and get out of the sun-that was probably what was making it worse.

He directed Petunia off the field and towards one of the utility gates that led to the barn where Petunia made her home. As they entered, he drove the plow to the left and stopped it there where he unhooked Petunia and let her roam free about her domain.

Suddenly, a wave of nausea passed over Thomas and his vision wen't completely fuzzy for a moment as he stumbled in between the handles of the plow. He breathed heavily as spit dripped from his mouth and the pain in his head intensified for the briefest of moments.

And then, everything cleared. Well...almost. His head still throbbed with pain but the nausea disappeared and his vision returned. That was when he knew he really had to lay down for awhile. He pulled himself together and took a gravel path back up his estate at the top of the hill-all the while shaking his head as the mysterious sentence floated about his mind.

_Druchii Mon'Keigh...Druchii...hacas nede..._

Suddenly, he found himself at the front door and pushed his way in with one hand still holding his head as he stumbled through.

His mother was helping Minerva clean up her playthings when he stumbled in and leaned up against the wall, letting out a long groan of exhaustion and pain as he leaned there.

"Thomas!" Kellia cried, she sprang to her feet and was at her son's side in an instant and she leaned his body towards her to take most of his weight. She craned her head to Minerva and yelled, "Go fetch your father! Now Minerva!"

Minerva's eyes were filled with fear and concern for her older brother but nevertheless she knew when to obey her mother. She scrambled to her feet and took off towards the east side of the house towards the yards where Kayson was currently working.

"Thomas? Thomas! What happened?!" Kellia asked worryingly as she directed her son towards the center of the living room before guiding him down the two center steps before laying him down on the couch as gently as possible.

"Think I...hit my head." he muttered incoherently as his eyes shifted about before lazily coming around to Kellia, "Did you know we had an Oak tree that grew apples?" he asked whimsically.

Kellia shook her head confusingly, "That doesn't make any sense Thomas." It was clear to her that Thomas was either delirious from the exposure to the sun or concussed.

"I bet...I bet one of da apples dropped an'...hit me de head." he slurred his speech. This time, Kellia let out a worried moan and looked down to the left to see if her husband and Minerva had returned from the east yards but still nothing.

Then suddenly, Thomas tried to get up, "Need to...get back...to work...mother."

Kellia pushed him down, "No Thomas, you're exhausted and delirious. You need to rest." she then turned and muttered to herself, "Damn it Kayson, I knew he shouldn't have gone out today, it's much too hot."

"Druc...Keigh..chii...hac...de..." Thomas muttered but if Kellia found this anymore suspicious, she did not show it as it only made her more worried. The sound of heavy footsteps against the hard wood floor caught her attention to see her hulking husband running down the hallways before he leaped into the center of the living room.

"He might have hit his head on something and actually continued plowing this entire time. Only made it worse." Kellia said, looking to Kayson who felt Thomas' head as his son's eyes lazily drifted about.

He held up his hand to Thomas' face and the boy's eyes actually focused on it as Kayson asked, "How many fingers am I holding up Thomas?" while extending all five fingers.

The boy answered immediately, as his face grew pale, "My my father...why do you have 46 fingers?"

Kayson and Kellia looked at each other before the former said, "I'll take him up to his room, why don't you make him a bowl of soup and get a wet rag. You'll probably want to contact Virgil as soon as possible as well."

Kellia nodded but poked her husband in the chest, "You need to tell him to thin out that thick head of his and make sure he doesn't try and work himself to death-the boy thinks he's an Astartes the way he plows fields."

"I heard...that." Thomas said as his voice heightened and dropped dramatically.

Kayson gave a sheepish look to his wife before picking up Thomas and holding the young teenager in his arms before moving to climb the stairs to the upstairs bedrooms. Kayson Makeo was a hulk of muscle due to a lifetime of plowing fields under his father before him but could easily be described as a gentle giant-hence why his tiny wife was able to have so much power in the house.

"Is 'Mas going to be okie day?" Minerva asked, her youth still heavily influencing her speech.

Kellia shooed Minerva away and said, "Yes he's going to be fine he just needs to rest. Now come and help me get your brother's medicine ready." She took one last look as Kayson carefully carried Thomas up the stairs. Thomas was almost a perfect mixture of his parents-he wasn't a block of muscle like his father-more skinny like his mother but his body was in no way lacking in hidden strength and muscle.

The elder Makeo reached Thomas' room and very carefully laid his son down on his bed near the windows before slipping off the boy's boots and socks. He then moved to the windows and opened them to allow fresh air inside the stuffy room.

It was at this time that Kellia entered the room and lay a bowl of herbal soup on the desk next to his bed while putting a wet rag atop his forehead to cool him down.

"Why...no...work?" Thomas muttered.

"Thomas you're concussed, don't go pushing yourself trying to make it better. You need to sleep for a good long while before you even think about taking Petunia out again. She'll be fine with me." Kayson said, sitting on the bed and patting Thomas on the knee as he slipped the covers over him.

"Huh...fine..." Thomas answered before settling into the covers as Kellia began to give him spoon fulls of the soup with the crushed medicine inside. When she had given him a sufficient amount she stood back up next to her husband.

"Now you just sleep now and call us if you need anything alright love?" asked Kellia to which Thomas deliriously winked, causing her to roll her eyes. Kayson shooed the worried mother away so Thomas could finally rest.

As he began to close the door to Thomas' room he stuck his head in one more time, "Your mother says you're thick headed and eh...ah...something else I can't quite remember. Eh...just work on that will ya? Thanks sunny boy." he said before he closed the door.

Thomas continued staring at the ceiling as the fan continued to spin off the right.

"Unfamiliar ceiling." he said, not sure why he said it, but only knowing that it was the first thing to come to mind. He looked down at his body covered by the bed sheets and comforter, suddenly deciding that sleep sounded like a very good option right now.

He yawned and was about to close his eyes when he felt a powerful gush of wind blow over him from the windows. It wasn't enough to lift the covers off of him but it did make him shiver for a moment. He looked to his right-opposite of the windows.

On the wall was the sun filled outline of one of the open windows.

It was filled by a vague outline, almost like someone was...

He slowly looked to the left.

The window was empty.

He sniffed once but did not think much of anything of what he had just felt and seen. He rolled over onto his opposite side and yawned as he began to close his eyes once more.

Not before his ears picked up the sound of the melodic song of a voice, it sounded a lot like the one he had been hearing earlier in his head.

_Druchii Mon'Keigh...Druchii...Salesh gienes._

He disregarded it, and soon the world wen't black again.

* * *

_We will not always be there to do so human, for even now the deities of the Aether watch you-suspicious of your every move. He will need others...others that we act through in order to shape his future._

_Through the actions of others do our words reach his ears._


	4. These Good Things

**Imperial Agri-World of Yama Enda (Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector, Sub-sector Gethsamane)**

_The environment looked as if it had been dipped in a sort of bluish-grey paint, the sky was a bit darker but not exactly a void like the vacuum of space. The wheat itself was duller in color but flowed just as gently in the wind as it did on any normal day. There were multiple trees that marked corners as well as beginnings and ends of fields and they too were blowing softly and creating a chorus of leaves rubbing together and branches bending to the will of the wind._

_He walked._

_He walked with no haste at all, no sense of obligation but with one direction. In his slow pace, he was able to extend his left hand down and feel the tips of the wheat brush up against his palm. Where the wheat may have been rough and coarse to some hands, his were hardened by sixteen years of hard work-making them formidable against most forms of irritation._

_In fact, the wheat felt delightful against his skin._

_He said nothing._

_He said nothing as the large gray walls spanning into both corners of his eyes came into view. His family's estate lay just beyond it seated atop a small hill with a barn on the lower slope of the far side where multiple narboars were kept along with plowing equipment. Again, there was no haste as he let the calm summer breeze flow over him and he basked in the broad daylight._

_In fact, even the sunlight itself was dull._

_He glided._

_He glided through the oceans of wheat that his family was so well-known for producing. Wheat was an essential product to Yama Enda's economy but it was not the only crop that was produced to feed the Emperor's hungry. He knew there were starving masses out there that needed each and every ounce of food he and his family could produce, and he made sure each and every day he ventured out that he would do his best to fill their hungry stomachs._

_He came over the crest of the hill he was walking on and..._

He awoke.

He awoke and slowly opened his eyes as the dream world disappeared and was instantaneously replaced by the fabric of reality. The real sunlight was shining through the slightly opened windows and hitting the far wall to the right. He dipped his head so he could look out of them and saw the sky was as naturally blue the day he had fallen asleep.

Thomas yawned and stretched his limbs, breathing a sigh of relief when he had finished doing so. He sat up and pulled the covers of the bed off of him as he got up and made his way to the door. When he opened it, he breathed another sigh and rolled his neck, in just the few seconds he'd been awake, he felt full of untapped energy and ready to begin the day anew.

When he entered the dining room, he found Minerva face first in her plate of food while his mother was readying a second batch of scrambled eggs in the kitchen and his father sat in a chair nearest to him reading a scripture from the local Ecclesiarchy church. The Makeo's earned a nice profit from the sales of their crop, which was managed by Deslo Myr, but did not choose to live luxuriously. They only spent on what they needed to survive and get through the next day. The long line of Makeo's had always been a humble people.

His mother seemed to be almost telepathically alerted to his presence as she didn't turn around but called over her shoulder, "Your food will be ready in a couple of minutes Thomas, sit at the table please."

Thomas didn't say anything as he simply walked over and took the seat opposite Minerva and to the left of his father. Kayson put down the pamphlet and smiled at his son, "How's the cranium feeling boy?"

He answered truthfully, "I honestly have no idea how I got here, I don't remember even going to sleep or getting in my bed. All I know is that I feel great and ready to go to work today."

Before Kayson could answer, Kellia called over her shoulder, "Oh no you don't Mr. Makeo, you're staying where I can see you for the next couple days. That means no plowing or anything of the sort until you're fully recovered."

"Recovered?" Thomas asked, "Did I break something?"

"You felled on your head silly!" Minerva said, looking up from her plate and licking her fingers clean of food. Thomas gritted his teeth and made a noise of disgust.

"When are you going to teach your daughter that she's a woman and not a narboar?" he looked to his father. Kayson shrugged sheepishly as Kellia put a plate of steaming breakfast down in front of Thomas. He took a deep intake of the smell of the eggs, bacon, and toast before exhaling in ecstasy and digging in.

"So I hit my head huh. How long was I out?" he asked.

Kellia answered, "Basically from mid-day of yesterday till' this morning. Sif came over last night to ask if you wanted to watch the stars, naturally the girl nearly broke into the house when I told her what happened to you."

Thomas raised an eyebrow, "Did you break down the gates of the evil tyrant's castle to get to your beloved husband, who lay in a trance awaiting his true love's first kiss?"

His mother burst out laughing while Kayson coughed and said, "Ah my good boy, I believe you have the roles reversed. You see, your mother was a damsel in distress-always getting herself into trouble and of course Kayson Makeo has to come to save the day once more." he then placed his chin in his hands and stared dreamily at Kellia, "Ah...your mother is so beautiful when she's clumsy."

Thomas turned back to his mother as she replied, "And your father is so handsome driving those plows with his shirt off in the scorching sun..."

The elder Makeo's seemed to be lost in each other before Thomas rolled his eyes and said, "Excuse me, we're having breakfast, not a lover's picnic." His parents laughed and got back to eating.

"One day when you're sitting in my chair and Sif is sitting across from you, you'll understand my boy. Young love is all child's play while real romance is left to the adults." Kayson said, poking his fork at Thomas, who rolled his eyes again.

Minerva seemed to be trying to follow the conversation as she spoke up, "Is Mas' going to be a daddie and Sifie the mommy?"

Thomas pointed his hands at Minerva and glared at Kayson, "Now look what you've done, you're corrupting your own daughter trying to lecture me!" Kayson simply shook his head and pretended like he couldn't hear him.

The family had a nice breakfast and Thomas was informed of the incident yesterday where he had supposedly hit is head and barely made it back to his house before nearly collapsing when he got inside. Therefore his mother had restricted him from plowing for the next three to four days until he recovered. He was to contact Sif as soon as he could and Virgil would be over later to take him on a walk around the estate to assess his conversational capabilities.

When he was finished with breakfast, he returned to his room and sat down on his bed before reaching over his nightstand and activating the small vox-transceiver that he used to communicate with Sif almost daily. Kayson told him it was a relic from decades ago, where somewhere along the line a Makeo had been in the Imperial Guard and actually returned home with this communications device. Sif's father had cloned the transceiver with his expert technical skill and since then, Sif and Thomas' relationship had grown nothing but stronger.

While the vox initiated the link, Thomas laid pack against the pillows and sighed. He wished he was out there with his father and the rest of the estate workers.

Virgil regarded Thomas as a boy with the brightest of futures ahead of him. Kind, caring, loving, and most of all passionate about aiding those who were not as fortunate as him.

_Maybe that's why so many of the girls were after me_...he thought, snickering to himself as he remembered all the rumors and secrets that one way or the other made their way to him about local girls younger and older than him who were secretly in love with him. Not just because of his looks, but because of his manners and character. Many parents had to comfort their daughters they day they found out Thomas and Sif had gotten together.

Come to think of it...no his mother said he couldn't work. Thomas was unusual, he hated not working. He felt completely useless if he wasn't working.

Suddenly, the transceiver crackled before clearing and Sif's energetic and frantic voice came over the radio.

"**Thomas? Thomas?! Is that you? Tell me you're alright. Please tell me you remember me. Please oh please dear Saint-"**

Thomas chuckled, "Sif calm down it's me, I'm alright. I've got two arms and two legs and my head attached to my body. I'm pretty sure I don't need the prayers of any Saint right now."

"**Your mother said you hit your head and you barely made it back to the house. Are you sure you are completely recovered? What about your memory?**"

The boy chuckled again and shook his head, "I don't remember there being a yesterday though I do remember us having a dinner maybe...what? Three or four days ago? I can't quite pinpoint it but nevertheless I have no pain and I feel great. Mother has restricted me from working despite my attempts to reason with her."

"**You know there is no reasoning with Kellia Makeo.**" her laughter filled the vox.

Thomas threw his hands up irritatingly, "There's no reasoning with any woman. Even you! Remember that one time where you wouldn't talk to me for a whole week because you saw me carrying Bethany's belonging's?"

Sif's growl of irritation was ominous enough to make Thomas regret saying that, "**I had every right to be suspicious.**"

He slapped his forehead, "I was helping her back from the starport Sif, nothing to be afraid of...anyways...I'm sorry I missed you yesterday. I hear the sky was beautiful last night."

She sighed, "**You should have seen it, I could have sworn I saw the dust clouds and nebulas that make space so beautiful. The stars were as bright as the capital city if not brighter. Somewhere up there, Alessandro is working his ass off with his uncle.**"

Thomas laughed, "Ah, poor Ali...come to think of it I should have got his letter by now that he said he'd write. Did you get yours?"

"**Yes, it arrived yesterday morning.**" Sif replied.

He thought for a moment before groaning, "Damn it, I probably did something with it yesterday and now its position has been completely wiped from my memory. Thank the Emperor for concussions."

"**Oh you'll find it Thomas, it's not like it grew legs and walked off.**" Sif teased.

Thomas began looking around his bed and opened drawers on his nightstand, "You'd be surprised how many things I misplace. I'm starting to believe they do grow legs and walk off, leaving me completely hopeless and full of frustration." As Thomas searched around, Sif was silent for a couple moments. He seemed completely oblivious to the fact he was still talking to her when she spoke up.

"**Thomas.**" she said.

"Yes?" he replied as he stood up, looking around the room to see if Alessandro's letter was laying around.

"**Will you marry me someday?**" she asked, the hopefulness evident in her voice.

Thomas stopped what he was doing and turned back to the transceiver, he sighed and sat back down on his bed before pulling the vox as close to the edge of the nightstand as possible as he turned on his side to look at it.

"Sif, do you think I love you?" he asked back.

"**I...I...what?**" she asked, confused by his counter question.

"The answer is yes to the first question and should most definitely be yes to my own question. Sif...that day...when we were sitting on the shore of that lake, where we could both barely breathe after I swam out to get you...I know what I said. It may have been six years ago but I would never forget something as important as that."

He lay his head against the pillow, "I promised that I would marry you someday and keep you safe, just as my father said to my mother before me. But Sif...you ask this question nearly every other week...why? You know the answer."

"**Its the fear of something like this happening. Something much worse...you'll hit your head and lose everything you ever knew or you'll break something in your body and never be able to walk again or-**"

"Would you still love me if those things happened to me?" Thomas asked, somewhat worried about her answer.

Sif paused for a moment before replying, "**Of course Thomas, even if all I had left of you was your soul...even if you were confined to a bed or hover chair for the rest of your life...you are the only one I want to spend the rest of my life with.**"

Thomas closed his eyes and smiled, "Then Sif, I will marry you someday...but today...is not that day. We are still young and living under our parent's roofs. I still haven't figured out how to pay the taxes and your cooking still needs work."

"**I-I-I swear I'm learning! That's all! I'm just a beginner! I-I-I'll have something baked and excellent for you tomorrow. Y-Yo-You won't be disappointed!**" she said frantically.

This time, Thomas laughed out loud and replied, "Sif don't worry about it, you don't have to impress me or anything. Your beauty has smile has already done that."

"**Have I ever mentioned how much I love you?**" she asked.

"More than you can possibly remember." Thomas said. A glint of light from his window caught his eye and he sat up to look out of it. At the foot of the hill where his estate was situated on, he could see the unmistakable form of Virgil and his staff walking along the paths around the hill.

Thomas turned back to the vox and said, "I must go my love, I've got to speak with Virgil. I will see you sometime tomorrow."

"**I love you.**" Sif said in a very saddening tone, depressed that they would not be able to speak any more for the rest of the day.

Thomas replied, "And I love you." he then placed three of his fingers to his forehead before placing them on the vox, a common form of greeting on Yama Enda between two parties. He knew that a couple miles away on the Altor estate, Sif was probably doing the same thing. After that, he turned off the vox and got himself dressed and groomed before leaving out of the front door to meet Virgil.

He zipped up his coat which he had brought along to protect against the chilly gusts of wind that were blowing around the the estate. When he reached the bottom of the hill near the gate he found Virgil examining a group of flowers situated on the inside border of the wall.

"I've never seen you so interested in flowers teacher." Thomas said.

Virgil did not turn around but extended one hand towards the pink flowers while his other hand held his staff, "They remind me that there is something in this galaxy worth living for."

"They remind you? What? Are you not convinced of everything around you that your eyes can see?" Thomas asked, looking around inside his family's estate.

"It took me a great long time to become accustomed to being blind and I had to learn that my sense of touch would come to replace it as my greatest of senses. If you were to think about it enough...one does not need eyes to see...your hands can paint the picture within your mind as clearly as one sees the first rays of light when he wakes up in the morning." Virgil said, standing up and smiling.

Thomas was instantly reminded of his teacher's blindness, which he apparently sustained in the Great War out there in the vast galaxy that was home to them all. The injury he sustained was hidden by his coconut shaped helmet all the way to half way down to his nose and prevented anyone from seeing it. Virgil did not talk about his service in the great war or where he had gotten his staff with the Imperial Aquila on it, he preferred to keep such cold topics out of the ears of children.

Virgil was an associate to Preacher Elisio but where the latter addressed crowds and spread the world of the Imperial Cult, Virgil educated the youth-taught them how to read and write and nurtured their thought processes. Both men were well loved and respected not only for their work but for their dedication to others outside of their workplaces. Hence why Virgil was commonly seen on walks with Thomas across the fields of wheat.

The blind man gestured to the gate and together the two exited the estate and began walking into the wheat fields.

"Your mother tells me you suffered a rather harsh blow to the head recently, I trust you still know your own name." Virgil said, a smile forming on his lips.

"I don't remember there being a yesterday, but I do know that my name is Thomas Makeo son of Kayson and Kellia and brother to Minerva. Is that enough proof for you?" Thomas asked, cocking his head in Virgil's direction.

Virgil nodded, "Well enough, but let us test you even further...recite to me the prayer of Saint Lucia."

Thomas blinked before clearing his throat...

_They may take away my clothes, but the Emperor keeps me warm._

_They may strip away all that I have been given, but the Emperor keeps me warm._

_They may sunder my body and defile it, but the Emperor keeps me warm._

_They may whisper words of heresy into my ears, but the Emperor keeps me warm._

_They may strive to invade the house of my father, but the Emperor keeps me warm._

_They may spread lies and deceit through the house of my father, but the Emperor keeps me warm._

_The warmth that the Emperor gives me is a power none can match or withsatnd, the strength of the Emperor is beyond mortal comprehension._

_It is me he has chosen to bear the light of his word through the darkness of the future and the cold of the void._

_He has imbued the strength to purge heresy and bring the light back to Terra._

_And I can do anything through he who gives me strength._

Thomas took a deep breath as he finished the prayer and Virgil nodded, "Music to my ears. Sweet Saint Lucia...tortured to death by heretics but her silence of speech was what made her victorious that day. As Elisio has no doubt told you, the words that come from your mouth are of the most holy nature, you should be honored to utter them."

"There is no greater honor than honoring a daughter of the Emperor." Thomas said but to his surprise, Virgil's lips drooped and Thomas could tell he was frowning under his helmet.

"You are a very poor liar, did I ever tell you that?" Virgil said.

Thomas was shocked that his teacher would ever utter those words and mumbled, "B-B-but I..."

"Sif said the very same thing when she came to me a couple of weeks ago, it is not that I believe you are repeating what she is saying but it is clear to me that your vision of the Emperor is stout and straightforward." Virgil said, digging his staff into the ground with each step.

"Is that not what it should be?" Thomas asked warily, he knew the risks of uttering blasphemy and heretical words and he dared not think of the consequences for such actions.

"Has Elisio taught you nothing?" Virgil shook his head and continue, "It is alright to have your own version of the Emperor in your mind Thomas, it is what makes us human. Humanity is bestowed a rare gift by the Emperor...free will and choice whether to praise and love him or..." Vigil didn't have to finish his sentence.

"And if a human's perspective of the Emperor is perverted?" the boy asked.

"It is not difficult to tell when someone has given into heresy even if they believe they believe their own version of the Emperor is right. I have encountered many who thought this way and they deserved only one fate for their actions." Virgil said.

Virgil looked up towards the sky and said, "Allow me to show you my version of the Emperor...he may sit immobile on the Golden Throne as we speak but that does not mean he is not with us each and every day...others act through his words and whispers and become Saints, great generals, charitable persons and so forth. The Emperor need not be present for others to act out his will."

Thomas looked down, "Then have I been lying to myself my entire life? Thinking that I have my own version of the Emperor when it is really just the doctrine of the Cult?"

"Speak your mind Thomas." Virgil said.

Thomas sighed and the two exited a field and onto a gravel road between another field. They decided to travel down this road to the next intersection marked by Mpopla trees.

He shoved his hands in his sweat pockets and said, "Sif asked me today if I was going to marry her someday."

Virgil looked to his student, "This is not the first time you have told me this."

Thomas nodded, "I know, but today was different. It wasn't just every other week where I tell her the same answer over and over again. This time...I felt as if...as if..."

Virgil looked on curiously, "As if you were unsure of what you were actually saying?"

Thomas nodded guiltily.

The blind man smiled and placed a hand on Thomas' shoulder signaling for him to stop in the middle of the road, he turned the boy towards him and tapped him in the heart with a wing of his Aquila.

"Do you not see the same predicament you have with your version of the Emperor? You repeat the words thinking you know them but in fact you are clueless as to what they actually mean. Your problem is youth Thomas. Youth. You are but sixteen summers old and despite the intelligence that you have in that thick head of yours...your youth still betrays you. You are trying to age much too fast for your own good."

Thomas protested, "But I have so much work to do! I can't just stand by and let the fields go unattended and waste the day doing nothing. What am I useful for if I cannot work?"

"Is that what you think of yourself as? A mere tool? If that is your mindset than I must regret to inform you have a very poor outlook on life." Virgil said sharply and motioned for the two of them to keep walking as he continued, "In someways you are right, some humans are tools and parts to the greater machine that is humanity but within each sub-sector...within each system...within each planet lies an uncountable number of machines that are driven by each and every person's energy."

He turned to Thomas as he walked, "What do you think you're family would feel...or perhaps Sif...if one day you dropped dead of exhaustion? Your parents and sister would be devastated, Sif would be near irreparable, and the community would mourn and as we all know...our energy transfers to our work and output. Death would cast a cold shadow over the land and the crops would suffer...all because one little machine tried to gain a heightened directive on on the chain where he shouldn't have."

Thomas blinked and looked down at the gravel as he walked and noticed the amount of dirt and soot that covered his boots. He said, "I am my own machine and if I break down..."

"You affect the entirety of the communal machine. There are some parts of the human machine that can be replaced or be substituted but in your case boy...you are irreplaceable." Virgil said.

_You aren't useless at all. In fact, you're irreplaceable._

Thomas suddenly heard the echoing of his mother's words to his father, Virgil had basically repeated them to Thomas in his own sense. Thomas looked up at the gravel street as it extended into the horizon.

"You are one of the few humans that have the chance to enjoy the life your mother and father were gifted. What you said to me a couple of days ago...about how if you had the chance to fight on the fields of the Great War...That Thomas is very different than the one that walks beside me. Why is this so?"

Thomas shrugged, "Perhaps I hit my head a little too hard."

Virgil smiled and nodded for Thomas to stated his real reason and the boy continued, "Perhaps I am a bit...conflicted...but I do not know the source."

The older man directed the two of them into a wheat field that ran parallel to the large walls surrounding the Makeo estate as he said, "The source of your problem boy lays in the part of conscious that only the Emperor can truly access...your mind. I can only do so much as diagnose the problem...the Emperor...as the solution."

Thomas looked to Virgil and asked, "But I cannot hear him. Never have I heard him in all my life. I would think he has more important humans to look after than me."

"All fathers care for their sons." Virgil said, but paused and added, "The righteous fathers that is...It is foolish to think he is not aware of each and every human that is alive today. He listens to you Thomas and do not mistake his silence for inaction for the Emperor is as careful as he is articulate. He waits and watches...acting through others to produce the desired result."

Thomas saw they were coming back towards the gate to the estate.

"I see the good of the Emperor in you Thomas...no one will deny that. But if you want answers to your conflict...if you want the Emperor to respond to you directly...than you will have to hear the Emperor in your own right. No one else can dictate what the Emperor tells you directly. That conversation is between the Emperor and you alone."

He tapped his staff on Thomas' heart and forehead, "That conversation must take place here and here."

The pair came up to the gate and like a couple days before, Virgil looked around before making the sign of Yama Enda upon his helmet to his pupil. Thomas nodded and did the same before turning around

"Thomas."

The boy turned around just as he opened the gate to his estate.

Virgil nodded at him and smiled, "He shall call on you, and you will hear the Emperor."

With that, Virgil turned around and began walking away into the wheat fields directly behind him, his staff in one hand and with his other he grazed the tops of the wheat stalks, humming to himself as he walked farther and farther away.

Thomas blinked and whispered words of thanks to his teacher before opening the gate completely and beginning to walk up the path to his house and allowing the gate to shut behind him. When he walked high enough up the path, he turned around, expecting to see his teacher's retreating form somewhere in the wheat fields below him.

But Virgil was gone.

* * *

A couple of hours later, he was in the midst of helping his mother and Minerva clean out storage bins and boxes from the catacombs beneath the house. When Thomas had told his friends there were catacombs beneath his house, they had both been suspicious and amazed and had asked why this was so.

His parents told him that the catacombs, while the fact they were catacombs, were there for as long as they could remember and their parents had told them the same thing but they had always been empty and lit only by candle emplacements when needed. Now, they were simply being converted to store extra household items and material things which didn't nearly take up enough space as the catacombs offered.

"Minerva! Stop playing with those trinkets and bring down the toys I told you to." his mother snapped at Minerva who in turn puffed out her cheeks and wen't up her room to gather what she did not need anymore.

They were in the hallway separating the kitchen and dining room and the living room when Thomas opened one of the boxes. It was filled with dust and he coughed and waved away the cloud and grabbed some gloves that were on the floor next to him. When he looked in, he found a couple of old books and other items that he knew could probably be used elsewhere in the house or the clerical church.

He was about to move onto the next when he saw something that almost blended in with the brown cardboard that had previously encased it. It was nearly flat and rectangular but Thomas' curiousness overrode every other thought and he picked it up off the right inside face of the box.

It was a frame.

When he turned it over, the picture was so clouded with dust that he couldn't properly see it so he sucked in his breath and blew off the dust with one powerful breath. When he saw the portrait clearly, his eyes widened and he took in a sharp breath

There was a woman who was only visible from her torso up but was clad in a black hooded coat trimmed by sashes that displayed either the Imperial Aquila or the Makeo family symbol-a small bead attached to upside down wings. The hood was back so he could clearly see her sharp and crisp facial features and yet another Makeo symbol tatooed underneath her right eye. Her brown hair was tied into a single braid that fell over her left shoulder and was pinned up a little on the top of her head by multiple circular pins. Some of her hair draped down over her face but her striking eyes and visible smile were still evident.

There was no mistaking who this was.

His mother had come over to him after she'd seen the enormous amount of dust coming from the portrait, when she saw the woman in the frame, she smiled and said, "Your grandmother just will not let go of you will she? Even in the arms of the Emperor she watches over you."

This was his father's mother...Thomas had always called her Grandmother Makeo but had always known her true name...Julciad Makeo. That was the extent to which even his father remembered about his mother besides her appearance.

"It's a shame I never got to meet her, I would have asked her so many questions." Thomas said, his hands running over the portrait.

Kellia ran her fingers across the frame, "You are spitting image of her, now you know where you and your father get their good looks." she smiled.

Thomas smiled weakly.

"She would be very pleased to see who her grandson has become." Kellia said and kissed her son on the cheek. "Why don't you take your Grandmother's portrait up to your room with you? It's only fitting that she be with you after all." she asked and Thomas looked back at the portrait of his youthful grandmother. According to Kayson, his own mother had died when he was very young and did not remember much of her besides her beautiful brown hair and graceful smile.

What was interesting is that a couple years back, Thomas had been digging through the storage bins in the catacombs when he had come across a small chain attached to a circular locket engraved with the Makeo family symbol-a small circle with upside down wings attached to it. When he had opened the locket, he found a nearly identical picture of Grandmother Makeo resting within it. Inside the storage bins were few short letters to various family members including Kayson, Kellia, and interestingly enough-one addressed to her future firstborn grandson.

Thomas had refused to open it however, for reasons unknown to him, he figured he'd wait for some day where his faith was more so conflicted than it ever was or the day he and Sif married or something like that.

How Grandmother knew she would have a firstborn grandson was beyond Thomas, maybe she'd just been lucky. Since then he carried the locket around his neck but would sometimes grow paranoid of losing it and not wear it for a couple days but would always return to wearing it one way or the other.

Even though he had never known her, or heard her voice, Thomas sometimes found himself hearing an imaginary version of his Grandmother's voice reading the letter addressed to him whenever he found the need to re-read it. Using her picture and this imaginary voice, he had visualized his grandmother when she was younger or at the time that picture was taken...beautiful but also strong willed and intelligent.

He nodded to his mother and took the portrait under his arm as he walked up to his room. When he reached it, he found a small peg in the wall to hang its thread by near the entrance to his room and placed it there. He stepped back to admire his Grandmother's new home in his room and gave her the sign of Yama Enda.

When he finished, he wen't back downstairs before finally descending to the catacombs below to bring out more storage bins. He climbed down the ladder which descended about the height of eight feet down into the ground and jumped off at the second step and his boots hit the sand beneath him. He grabbed the flashlight that was laying on the box off to his right and made his way into the northern catacombs.

"Bring me back up the one marked, "Kayson's tools" will you love? Thank you!" his mother called from above and Thomas nodded his affirmation. The catacombs were light by tiny rock outcroppings in the walls that were level enough to hold candles engineered to last a very long time.

He cursed to himself, he always hated this routine because he knew he'd eventually bring back boxes into the catacombs and his mother was so indecisive about things-part of the reason why there was still stuff in here to begin with. He had traveled about ten yards when he turned to his right and found a large indent in the wall where a couple of boxes were sitting, waiting for them to be brought up into the house.

"Kayson's tools...Kayson's tools...Kayson's tools...Kay...here you are." Thomas said as he found the medium sized box in the back row of three rows of three boxes each. He sighed as he got to work moving the heavy boxes out of the way to get to the desired one in the back.

He was about to reach for it when all of a sudden, the light in nearby storage indent off to his left dimmed.

Thomas stopped reaching for the box and raised an eyebrow as he leaned back up and leaned even further back to look down the pathway that led further into the catacombs. It was lit for another ten or twenty yards before the Makeo's no longer needed any more space in the catacombs and the darkness reigned beyond that.

There was barely any airflow in the catacombs except the occasional time when air flowed in from the opening to the house above him, so why had the light dimmed? His father had lit them this morning and they should be no were near depletion by now.

He continued looking down the pathway before shrugging and walked forward to grab the box that his mother wanted. Grunting, he dragged it out of the rows and put the others back in place before he began to push it back towards the ladder.

He had only traveled a couple feet when he heard a series of squeaks and the unmistakable sound of something moving on top of cardboard. Thomas turned around to see a mouse leap move into the passage way-a small silver chain that looked like a necklace with a decorative symbol attached to it. The mouse grabbed it in its mouth and it began to run off in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" Thomas yelled, suddenly angry that the mouse had stuck its nose where it didn't belong, "Hey you little bastard! Get back here!" He pushed off the box and grabbed the flashlight from his pocket and took off after the mouse.

Whatever the mouse had in its mouth was Makeo property and heritage, not some tiny vermin's. Oh when Thomas got a hold of that thing he would make sure that it never came back this way.

He thought he heard something slam shut behind him, but disregarded it.

He ran past the storage indent he had just been in and he could still see the mouse running off about ten yards ahead of him towards the darkness. Growling to himself, he pushed himself harder and he began to gain on the vermin before it disappeared into the darkness of the extended catacombs. Thomas was not about to let a childhood fear of darkness allow the mouse the escape so he flipped on the flashlight to full brightness and followed the tiny thief into the darkness.

For about thirty seconds, he took lefts and rights as he fought to keep the mouse in his sight and in some cases almost lost it in the darkness but eventually relied on its noticeably prints in the sand on the ground to find it again.

Thomas grunted as he dove and caught the trailing end of the chain and quickly enclosed his fingers against it and got to his feet smiling like a maniac as the the mouse was lifted up along with it-refusing to let it go.

"Sorry little thief, but this is mine...not yours." Thomas snickered and gave the necklace a few shakes before the mouse finally let go and fell to ground and scrambled off into the darkness.

He sighed and lifted the necklace up to his face so he could see it with the flash light he had in his left hand. Of course the necklace would be a silver version of the Makeo family symbol and Thomas breathed a sigh of relief that he had gotten it back from the tiny thief.

Suddenly, there was very loud squeak directly ahead of him that he could only assume was from the mouse. Something was unusual because the mouse's frantic squeaks got louder and louder until he realized the mouse was actually coming back at him. He raised an eyebrow and got down on his knees and lowered the flash light to the ground next to him so that the light spread out and he was able to see the entire ground of the passage way in front of him for a couple feet.

Not a second later, the small form of the mouse came gallivanting back but with far more speed and its squeaks hinted that the mouse was afraid...very afraid. The Makeo's didn't have any pet cats and so far as he knew, Thomas was sure they didn't have any large predators on his estate. The mouse didn't seem to care as its tiny legs carried it past Thomas far quicker than it had been running away from him not a minute earlier.

Thomas turned and watched it go from his knees, his pupils had adjusted enough to the darkness so that he could see moderately well and he watched it disappear into the catacombs yet again-still squeaking its fear.

A small flow of cold air suddenly appeared and brushed over Thomas as he looked after the mouse. He nevertheless rubbed his arms and called after the mouse, "Afraid of the dark little thief? Serves you right!" and he turned around to grab his flashlight...

Two objects that looked a lot like long, serrated armored legs and feet were in the light emitted by the flashlight. Standing mere inches from him.

His blood chilled and his pupils dilated. A sudden burst of energy surged through him as he let out a scream of fear and grabbed the flashlight and spun around, and stumbled getting up before scrambling to his feet and took off running.

"Mother! MOTHER!" he cried, fear literally pumping pure adrenaline through his veins as he fought to keep the flashlight in his hands and the beam of light forward. He had gone into the dark catacombs before and knew his way back but fear was beginning to cloud his mind.

He breathed frantically as he ran and ran-taking lefts and rights here and there as he tried desperately to get back to the familiar catacombs. Not a couple seconds later, he came to an intersection and took a sharp left and he felt his ankle bend and protest to the sudden movement. A chilling cold wind was beginning to inch up his back. He made the mistake of turning around with the flashlight to check behind him.

He caught the sight of a slender, pale figurine almost a couple feet behind him.

"_Druchii Mon'Keigh...Druchii...hacas nede._"

Thomas screamed again and bit back his pain. His vision was suddenly filled with the familiar light of the lit catacombs. He was almost back to the entrance to the house! He had to warn his mother and father! Someone else was down here with him!

"MOTHER! FATHER!" he cried to see if anyone had come looking for him but no one answered him. He ran past a couple of storage indents, the ladder back up the house was only a left turn and a straight run of about ten yards.

Suddenly, the candles that lit the catacombs in front of him simply winked out of existence, a cold wind flowing over him and plunging the area in front of him into total darkness. Thomas' heart dropped like an iron weight and he cried out in surprise.

He was so surprised and scared that he tripped on his bad ankle and tumbled to the ground-the roughness scrapping his hands and knees. For a moment he gritted his teeth in pain and rolled onto his back, his ankle throbbing with pain and his palms and knees scraped and bleeding. That was when he noticed the candles beginning to extinguish in front of him.

One by one, the storage indents were beginning to plunge into darkness, and Thomas' fear only grew larger in proportion. It was almost as if the darkness was creeping towards him as it's cold and unforgiving wind blew out the candles seated on the walls of the catacombs.

Before he could even think about getting up, the last candle attached to the wall on the upper right flickered and died, leaving only the flashlight that was propped up against the right wall, facing the darkness that Thomas had just tried to escape from.

Silence.

And then...

The unmistakable sound of footsteps against the ground that were not his own. The footsteps belonged to something...or someone that was walking towards him, if had been his parents-he would have either heard them by now or they would be running with a flashlight.

He was paralyzed.

Fear reigned and courage waned.

His breathe was as rapid as his beating heart and surprisingly, his pain seemed to be forced into another corner of his attention. He had never experienced this kind of fear ever in his entire life and as a result, it had complete control over him and prevented him from moving.

The footsteps were not loud thuds but as simple and elegant as his own. They grew closer until finally...

...The bearer of Thomas' fear and the footsteps stepped into the light given off by the flashlight. Its entire form was illuminated so that Thomas could plainly see his pursuer.

His eyes grew as wide as they could go and his blood chilled even more, he was still paralyzed by his fear that was poisoning his mind.

It was...

..._an alien_.

This alien, while it had humanoid features was most definitely not human.

It had narrow violet eyes and elongated ears as well as sharp and angular facial features. Its skin was pale in comparison to his own and it wore knife like armor on its shoulders, chest, shins, and feet. It's jet black hair was tied into a single braid that fell over its right shoulder and seem to be further elongated by rather menacing looking clips that covered the length of the braid. Multiple markings of unknown design or source covered its arms and forehead. Nothing compared to the obvious assortment of blades and knives that covered its waist.

The alien could safely assumed to be of the female gender judging by the articulate nature of its face and long hair as long as the half-armor, half-clothing it wore around its chest. Why Thomas' mind was thinking about these questions was beyond him, perhaps this is what his mind did its last moments. The alien's almost human like features did not give any sort of comfort to Thomas as he lay on his back.

An alien.

Here.

On Yama Enda.

_Somewhere and somehow no matter how we live...the war will touch us all._

Those were Virgil's words.

His teacher was right.

More right than he could imagine at this very moment.

The alien's total command over the situation gave it control over Thomas' fear and the intimidation factor was all the way in its favor. He did not cry out and neither did do anything but lay on his back looking back at the alien. He was completely paralyzed by fear. By the Emperor, she must hear his heart thumping in his chest at this point!

He only blinked once but in that nano-second the alien suddenly appeared much closer-faster than his eyes could even hope to track. Her speed was beyond that of any human and suddenly he felt her uncharacteristically smooth hand around his neck and fingers as cold as the void on the right side of his face as it picked him up effortlessly and thrust him against the rocky wall. He cried out with a mixture of fear and pain and turned his head away while closing his eyes. He did not want to look at this alien for his death was all but assured.

Here in these dark catacombs the alien would eviscerate him and then move upstairs to his unsuspecting family. Then, it would move outside and butcher the rest of the community-Sif...Virgil...Elisio...Bethany...Alexandros.

All of his hard working nature and ethic and it was here that his death would be. The future that he had planned out for himself would come to an end and his light would be gone from the world of the living forever.

He could not stare this enemy of all Mankind in the face like he heard the warriors of the Emperor had. That was all aliens existed for-to either destroy or enslave humanity for their own cruel and malicious ends.

He cowardly waited for the end.

But nothing happened, it just held him there against the wall with her hand around his neck and her fingers across his left cheek while he whimpered in fear and pain.

"_Druchii Mon'Keigh...Druchii...Salesh gienes._"

It spoke with the same melody and song of a voice it had spoke with not a couple minutes earlier. The language was a tongue twister for Thomas and neither did he recognize anything the alien had said, not that he should care in the first place. Her breath was almost silent but he could feel its surprisingly warm touch across his neck and face and it sent shivers of fear down his spine. She must be able to feel and taste his fright by now.

He opened his eyes.

The alien's face was mere inches from his. Her violet eyes were narrowed and lips drooped into an ominous frown, the sight of which probably could have flayed Thomas if the alien so wished.

Suddenly her free arm moved and Thomas closed his eyes, preparing for his long fought and hard life to end.

But the alien did not pull any knives or weapons from her waist, instead, he felt her free hand tug on the locket of his grandmother hanging around his neck, the chain pulled against the back of his neck. Thomas' eyes flew open and he looked on in horror as the alien flipped open the locket and stare at the portrait of his grandmother.

It let out a sinister laugh and with a pull of inhuman strength, pulled the chain on the back of his neck apart and held the locket up to her face, her eyes switching between Thomas and the locket before she lowered her hand and put the locket in some sort of pocket on her waist.

"No! That's mine! Give it back!" Thomas suddenly screeched, his body beginning to flail and resist the choke hold of the alien woman, who only seemed irritated by his behavior. He didn't even see her free hand move to a different place on her waist and pull something off it and the next thing he knew, a sudden pain ignited from the base of his neck.

The alien had slapped a syringe type device into the base of his neck and she held it there for a couple seconds as Thomas screamed and resisted-emptying its contents of unknown dark blue liquid into his body. He could feel something that was more attune to a cold fire spreading throughout his neck, head, and chest before it moved horrifyingly past to every corner of his body.

Thomas began to feel dizzy and he quickly lost the strength to resist as his arms returned to his sides. The alien woman let go and he tumbled to the ground in a daze on his side. His vision became unfocused and his fear began to retreat from his mind as the cold fire fastened its grip on his body. He felt something like being tucked into a feathery bed slip over his mind and body as his eyes looked up one last time.

The alien woman had turned around and was walking in the direction Thomas had been running in, her head cocked to the side as if to look back at him but she did not turn around again as she disappeared once more into the darkness.

And then, Thomas' world wen't black again.

* * *

Slowly, groggily, but surely, Thomas Makeo began to awake from his state of unconsciousness. He tasted something bland in his mouth and coughed out dirt and gravel from his mouth. His muscles felt sore and weak as if he had run a couple miles worth of exercise.

He groaned and slowly pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and simply caught his breath for a moment. He felt sick to his stomach and sweat dripped from his brow as he licked his parched lips. His feet had pins and needles but luckily he wasn't naked as he still felt his tunic, sweats, and boots on him.

But why was it so hot? His vision was fading in and out and whenever he tried to shake his head, the grogginess returned. He decided to hold himself still for a couple moments as his vision eventually came to right itself.

He barely had any strength left in him as he was barely able to sit back on his rear against the wall of the catacombs. His mind was muck with dull pain or confusion and he felt spittle dripping out of the corners of his mouth. Thomas didn't think to try and lick it up because he coughed and tried to breathe through the...

Smoke?

That was when he looked up and even through the darkness he could see the grey haziness of smoke drifting through the tunnels. It wasn't the first time that he smelt smoke obviously but what was unusual was that there was a lot of it...and it was coming from the direction of the entrance back up to the house.

He blinked a couple of times and stumbled to his feet, still in a daze as he fell against the opposite wall. He breathed heavily and swallowed bile that was in his throat.

"Mi...Mi...Min...er...er...va." he mumbled as he sort of hobbled the opposite way the smoke was traveling in. His night vision had become accustomed to the darkness and he could see the straight path that led to the ladder and up to the house.

It took him literally ten minutes from falling to his knees to leaning against the walls to travel from where he'd been unconscious to the ladder, mumbling the names of his family incoherently. Every now and then an unknown face would appear in his vision-violet eyes...pale skin...crisp facial features...not human.

But his mind was focused on finding the source of the smoke.

When he finally reached the ladder, he lazily raised his head to see smoke drifting through the blatantly damaged wooden cover that first needed to be opened for anyone to get in or get out of the catacombs. There were large gashes in the wooden cover that the smoke could be seen drifting through.

It was getting noticeably harder.

Thomas put his feet on the first step of the ladder and began to climb.

"M-M-Mo-M-Moth...Mothe..." he mumbled as he climbed painstakingly upward, barely enough energy filling his muscles to get to the next step. Each step of the ladder seemed like climbing an entire mountain. Sometimes he had to stop and lay his body against the ladder because it was simply too much-his muscles were protesting and he felt a growing sensation in his stomach as smoke drifted into his eyes and nostrils.

He almost didn't realize that his head bumped against the wooden cover.

Thomas blinked for a moment before pushing up against the cover with his hands but he was much too weak to try and force it with his weight. He tried time and time again but to no avail. Finally he switched strategies and delivered a punch to the side of one of the gashes in the wood and sure enough it splintered to open more of itself up to the rest of the house.

He delivered one last punch as the splinters in his hand finally began to draw blood and by that time, he had created a large enough gap in the left side of the cover to crawl through. Thomas lowered his head and climbed upward through the hole and up into his house.

He was met by an onslaught of heat, which mean't only one thing in conjunction with the ravenous smoke.

Fire...uncontrolled fire.

Thomas had trouble pulling his lower body out of the whole and it took him a good five minutes just to reposition himself to move his legs and feet out of the whole-suffering a near blackout as he strained himself a little too much. When his entire body was out of the wooden cover and sat down beside it, it was then that he was made aware of the environment around him.

There was a fire in the kitchen directly behind him and to his right where the entrance to the backyard was. More fire was licking at the walls and ceiling above and to his right. Even more so, he could tell that it was night by the lack of light coming from the windows directly in front of him.

His family was nowhere to be seen.

Thomas, still dazed beyond the ability to feel any sort of emotion, got to his feet and moved towards the front door which appeared to have been blasted apart into splinters. Even around him, the fires spread and debris fell from the ceiling onto the floor-missing him by a couple of feet on all sides.

When he stepped through the front door, he stumbled as he misjudged the placement of the first step and tumbled down onto his stomach. Nevertheless, some strength returned to him and his wobbly arms found the way to get him back on his feet. When he stood up, he took in his first sight of the world around him.

And it was burning.

Off to the northwest, he could see an inferno raging in the nearby town of Dalium, where most of the surrounding community for twenty miles came to celebrate the end of the harvest not a couple days earlier. He could hear the horrifying screams of pain and misery coming from that direction not six or seven miles away.

The Mpopla tress that lined the path up to the estate were all burnt to a crisp and the grass around them had been reduced to ash. He looked behind him to see the barn was blazing and suddenly, it's roof caved in and produced a mighty crash as wood splintered onto the ground.

Devoid of any emotion but the directive to just keep walking, Thomas began stumbling down the path towards the gate at the bottom of the hill.

"F-Fa...Fa...ther." he stuttered as he took lazy and drunken steps down the rock path, nearly slipping on the gravel as it bottomed out a little bit but eventually he made it down to the gate without falling on his face again.

When he made it down to the gate that formed the center of the wall surrounding his estate, he found that it too had been blown down and splintered onto the ground. Thomas disregarded this fact and stepped through just as the roof of the house caved in and fell to the ground with a noticeably crash.

_The environment looked as if it had been dipped in a sort of bluish-grey paint, the sky was a little bit darker but not exactly a void like the vacuum of space. The wheat itself was duller in color but flowed just as gently in the wind as it did on any normal day. There were multiple trees that marked corners as well as beginnings and ends of fields and they too were blowing softly-creating a chorus of leaves rubbing together and branches bending to the will of the wind._

_He walked._

Thomas looked from side to side and saw nothing but fires burning in separate fields and trees. He looked up into the sky and saw what looked like fireballs coming down from the black clouds and surprisingly swooping over the area to the west and east. The firestorm raged as far as the eye could see.

Yet he felt nothing.

He knew not where his family was, but could only listen to the sounds of cries of pain and misery coming from all directions.

_He walked with no haste at all, no sense of obligation but with one direction. In his slow pace, he was able to extend his left hand downward and feel the tips of the wheat brush up against his palm. Where the wheat may have been rough and course to some hands, his were hardened by sixteen years of hard work-making them formidable against most forms of irritation._

_In fact, the wheat felt delightful against his skin._

The stalks of wheat that had appeared like an ocean of gold a couple of days ago were simply black ash by now and it crunched under his feet as he walked. There was no more beauty to behold about this environment now.

It had turned in a matter of hours into a hell storm.

But still, Thomas felt nothing. He didn't know why he didn't feel anything, but only that he did not feel anything.

Thomas walked for what seemed like hours to him but there was still no end to raging fires that dotted the land. Some were spreading quickly while others remained in place. The sky was as black as the vacuum of space and he could see ominous smoke clouds forming beneath the sky, contrasting with the darkness of the night.

He extended his right hand downward and tried to feel for the tops of wheat stalks but felt nothing, he nevertheless kept his hand down there for the slight chance that something would brush against his hand.

Suddenly, his legs gave out and he fell to his knees. Thomas didn't even feel like trying to get up anymore, the strength had finally left him for good. He looked forward and saw a single wheat stalk standing in front of him midst a sea of ash and blackness.

He stared at it for a while before closing his eyes and bowing his head over. The boy remained like this for sometime before the sound of something hitting the ground directly in front of him caused him to open his eyes.

Something had crushed the single wheat stalk.

He looked up...

...and saw something that was definitely not human.

In the middle of its body was a slender figure whose skin was painted red from its ankles to its neck but its feet weren't even touching the ground. Extra limbs and appendages that hung from its back held it nearly two or three feet from the ground. Some of these looked like massive claws and stabbing talons that shifted and clicked from the back of its body.

It was looking down at him.

And Thomas stared back at it.

One of its many appendages reached forth and wrapped its bony ligaments around Thomas' neck and lifted him up effortlessly and brought him close to the creature's face. Its mouth was covered by a black grill and its eyes were as red as the incarnation of evil. It was hairless and its ears were long and pointed in contrast to Thomas' round ones.

The creature breathed heavily and suddenly let loose a fit of maniacal laughter when suddenly, an appendage snapped forward and dug a multitude of syringes into Thomas chest and he immediately wen't limp without so much as a cry of pain or anything.

The alien continued to laugh as it's appendages turned it around and began walking it back in the opposite direction, where more of its kind were passing it, on the hunt for more victims.

Only the sounds of a dying world were heard as the alien carried the limp form of Thomas Makeo away into the darkness...and to a future...where there is only...

War.

* * *

_Thomas,_

_By the time you should be old enough to comprehend this letter, I will be in a place far from your eyes Please do not automatically assume that this writes my death in ink. I have felt the brush of death's lips many times but I have made sure not to lock lips with him._

_More importantly I write this letter to make you aware of my presence, while your mother and father would be quick to assume what I mentioned above I believe you of all people can see past that. You ask why should you believe that fact when we have never met, but how do I know so much about you when I have never met you? I know of the girl you hope to marry and how long it usually takes you to plow a certain field. I know the name of your narboar and each of the beasts that came before her._

_I wonder what you father told you of me...I wonder if he even remembers much of me at all, for families such as our own are very rare in the Imperium. Seldom do humans have the opportunities and freedom that you had till the moments leading up to...Seldom are there humans like you Thomas. Did you father tell you what I looked like? I wonder if he has kept that portrait that Tiberius painted all those years ago._

_I do not blame Kayson or Tiberius for either's hate of me as they settled down on that comfortable world of Yama Enda. I had a different path you see, a path that even I with all my resourcefulness and abilities simply could not ignore or refuse._

_Tiberius...your grandfather...any more and he could have been an Astartes if they had caught him at a younger age. Oh how he would have been so proud of you and all that you had accomplished...for neither of us wished for you to walk the paths that we traveled before we met._

_You might be wondering why I write this to you and not to Minerva. While I love my granddaughter in equal footing, I cannot escape my fascination with you in the years before her birth. Your intelligence yet stubborn work ethic seemed to combine to form a human that thought outside of his job, who looked up into the stars and wondered. That's all you had to do...wonder...wonder what I was like._

_Thomas, if there is something I could leave you with, it would be this-even if we never see each other in our lifetimes, I encourage you to see outside just plowing fields for the good of the Imperium...I do not want to see my grandson become a machine because that's the only thing he thinks he's good for. I want my grandson to know that I believe he can be more than just an agri-worker._

_How do I know this? Come to House Makeo in the Vertruvian system, and I will be overjoyed to explain. More importantly, I will be overjoyed to finally meet my grandson._

_Ever loving,_

_J.M._


	5. Say My Name

**527 days later...**

She had tried to warn him...that stupid...ignorant...thick headed...lousy excuse for a living creature.

She had tried to point him in the opposite direction of the Kabal of the Poisoned Sickle when it came screeching from the sky with its swarms of Helions, Reavers, Venoms, and Raiders. This apparent farming world stood less than a chance against the experienced and quick warriors of the Kabal.

Like a swarm of locusts, the Kabal under Archon Selia had descended from the Webway onto this relatively undefended world that was supposed to be a carefully guarded secret among the humans. What was supposed to be a secret to them was just a mere glance in their direction in her terms and just like that...it was agreed that this was the next victim for the Kabal.

When she had discovered it floating among the stars, she began her usual process before a slave taking raid. She would report the world as ripe for the sacking to the Archon and then remain there until her Kabal arrived.

That's what she was-a forward scout. She didn't care in the slightest whether she shed the blood of lesser races-it was all the same to her whereas her fellow wyches were driven to fits of lustful insanity at the thought of fighting worthy opponents or spilling blood. It didn't matter to her because in the end-most of her "sisters" ended up going and getting themselves killed. She shrugged off their deaths and laughed at them as they would be doomed to an eternity of torment in the belly of She Who Thirsts.

The name of the enemy of the entire Eldar race sent shivers up her spine and she fought to keep its name out of her head.

Back to this human she had been trying to help...this was all part of her personal thought process. She had a partial reason as to why she did it, some of it was her past and the rest of it was for amusement. Still, the human had acted totally the opposite of what she intended.

She had been on countless raids into real space and every time she had been the first to the unsuspecting world, trying to point someone or something in the opposite direction of the raid. Part of her was curious to see what they might do and the other part wanted to keep somebody alive to tell the tale.

Few understood her prophecies of doom and even fewer knew the Eldar language. It was worth a shot to her she guessed, at least she could say she tried, that was all she ever really asked of herself.

Perhaps she hit the human over the head with the butt of her knife too hard the first day she had met him and then scared him the wrong way when she had descended into the catacombs underneath his home with him.

She shrugged to herself. She tried and failed yet again and then the human had gone ahead and made her laugh by breaking out of the catacombs beneath his burning home only to fall into the hands of her Archon's personal Haemonculus-Vasili.

She scoffed at the Haemonculus' name-she hated him with a burning passion for a reason only she, the Archon, and the Haemonculus himself knew and the fact that he was a lack luster Haemonculus furthered that hatred. He was good enough at his job at the Archon didn't kill him like she had her many previous pain doctors but he was nothing special. Simple augmentations to the Archon and some of her loyal lieutenants but beyond that he simply sat at the bottom of the Kabal fortress playing with his bags of meat.

What was worse was that he had her by the metaphorical throat.

Snarling, she shook her head and looked out across the Dark City.

What it must have been like to see this once prosperous city of the Eldar Empire reduced to the worst hive of scum and murder the entire galaxy had to offer. No human hive or Corsair brotherhood could hope to match the evil and insanity that came out of this city-it was the manifestation of all evil and headed by the Great Tyrant himself.

She stood atop a narrow spire at the top of the Kabal fortress of the Poisoned Sickle looking out as the sky roamed with a variety of speedy, bladed aircraft and transports. Occasionally there would be an explosion or the sound of splinter fire somewhere in the distance as old rivalries sprang up or scores were settled in quick and merciless ways but otherwise the Kabal Fortress was relatively calm.

No one really had the strength or time to fight the Poisoned Sickle-who were thousands if not a couple million strong with allies in certain places that could be called upon on a moment's notice. Even then, those allies were rarely called upon.

She shifted onto her other leg and brought up her right leg against its opposite so that she stood on only one foot overlooking the City. Her sharp eyes shifted to the north west for any sign of suspicious activity from the nearby Kabal of the Bloody Thorns, yet another of the Dark City's thousands of Kabals. This one however was headed by a hated rival of Archon Selia's...Archon Belthian, who according to Xelian had been strangely quite these past couple cycles and thus the archon made sure that patrols around the Kabal fortress were doubled and alert.

Only she who currently stood atop the spire knew why.

"Does our dearest Hexatrix not wish to be in the company of her subordinates?" a voice called out from the right and she turned her head to see a younger wych standing on a taller spire in the exact same position. The younger aspiring wych smiled at her Hexatrix's reaction and continued, "You aren't lonely without Calsar here to keep you company hmmm?"

The older wych smirked, "Vedrin."

"My lady..." the opposite wych replied, "Seen your secret admirer lately?" she asked.

The hexatrix shook her head and turned back to look back over the city, "Nythian you say? That laughable excuse for a male wych? I have defeated him endless times more times than I would care to remember, he would bring me no satisfaction...not even here."

"Oh how I have been waiting to hear those words dearest hexatrix..." another voice said from behind her and she turned around to see yet another female about her size with dark crimson hair and similar age standing on a larger spire directly across from her.

"Xer'na...have fun toying with your plaything recently?" she laughed as Xer'na leaped expertly through the air onto another spire to her right.

"Who knew Mon'keigh could provide so much entertainment? Made it all the more better when I tossed the maggot into the warp beast pen." Xer'na sighed and cocked her head at her hexatrix.

Soon, the rest of her fabled squad began to appear on the roof top-Zelia (an older wych), He'xena (the most sadistic and bloodthirsty of the group), Asarve (a combat drug junkie), Vakali (the quickest of the squad besides the hexatrix), Uthyan (a strange wych that enjoyed experimenting with lesser races), and finally Odarias (a wych that communicated only through hand signals and facial expressions).

The hexatrix looked back over the city and soaked in the amount of pain that was being inflicted at a given point in time. Deep down, some part of her screeched in protest but for now the rest of her disregarded it and shoved it to a far corner of her mind.

"You did well my sisters." the hexatrix said as she stepped out and fell from the spire onto the solid ground of the roof, "The Archon is pleased...the Kabal teems with screams of pain and desire once more."

She cocked her head in the direction of the east, where somewhere, the Kabal of the Bloody Thorns was out there...secretly scheming to bring down their hated rivals. She smirked, "Perhaps this will finally goad the fools into a pre-emptive strike...oh how I wish they would summon the bravery to do so..."

Odarias appeared seemingly out of nowhere to her right, her crimson hair flowing across her face in the breeze as she smiled at the lead wych. The lower wych dragged an armored finger across her hexatrix throat slowly seductively. With her other hand she made a flurry of movement with her fingers.

The hexatrix moaned at the touch and pretended to bite the retreating finger as she said, "Yes...that...is what comes next. We all know they will make their move soon enough as the hate will eventually reach its apex...and that fool at the head of the Bloody Throns will drink from the Poisoned Sickle that he so desired for centuries."

The drug addict hissed from above and behind the hexatrix, "When mistress? When? When will the blood next be spilled?" her tongue licked her lips and her eyes twitched maniacally as she fought to contain her desire to kill. The other wyches, entranced by the mention of blood, also began to moan and groan like mewling kittens to their mother.

Her leader raised a hand to signal for patience as she walked forward to the edge of the roof and looked across her view of High Commorragh, where starscrapers sometimes rose higher than her own Kabal fortress. Where this might inspire jealousy in Archon Selia, the hexatrix sneered to herself at the stupidity of it all.

"Patience my sisters...patience...can you not feel the apprehension of the Bloody Thorns from here? They will make the first move. I am sure of it. When they do...we will turn what they believe to be their killing field into their own definition of fear and pain." she snarled and her fellow wyches howled and screamed in agreement.

She smiled and turned away from the skyline as her subordinates jumped down to the ground floor of the ceiling to fall in line behind her. As she found her way to the steps that would lead back into the fortress, she laughed in her mind at the stupidity of her "sisters". They adored her like no other for no other reason but the fact that she was always right about the next attack, and those attacks satisfied their urges. Even though Zelia was technically the oldest, she was not on par with her hexatrix's skill.

When they had re-entered the fortress via an outside door, the wyches split up and wen't their separate ways while the hexatrix herself stayed near the entrance to the roof for a moment before sighing blissfully and walking forward.

Along the way she passed random lovers going at it or gangs of wyches or helions tossing around a slave for fun. While she regrettably turned away from their "play", she had a more important task ahead of her. Today was the day after all that she would begin play her part as the Crone Goddess and as of now, every thread of life in this fortress and that of the Kabal of the Bloody Thorns lay in her hands.

For she had a plan, and she would see it through.

She was heading in the direction of the main Reaver jetbike hangar in the middle of the Kabal fortress when she turned a corner and ran straight into the human.

Or what once looked like a human.

The slave cried out and stumbled back, falling onto his back as the chains between his ankles kept him from moving properly. His eyes stared back at the hexatrix with paralyzing fear and he shook with an equal amount of pain.

He cried out something attune to a plea for mercy in his own language, now even more crude with his heavy injuries inflicted by beatings and pain testing. He was a sad excuse for a living creature and it made the hexatrix roll her eyes in amusement.

When her eyes came back to the bleeding slave lying there in the middle of the intersection, she knew that this was the human...this was the one that had gotten himself captured by Vasili. The faintest of qualities...dark tan skin that barely hung on him anymore...his drooping eyes, signaled to her that this was the one. This was the one she had tried to warn about his impending doom and had once again added to the tally of failed advanced warnings.

Now...she could barely recognize much of anything human about him.

It was curious to note that he was the only one of the many different species she had forewarned over the centuries to have actually survived the invasions when they came. All the rest had gone down in the swift and bloody attacks that followed not a couple cycles after her warnings.

She found that interesting.

It wasn't like he hadn't acted like the rest, he had showed complete and utter paralyzing fear in her presence just like the rest, but she hadn't expected him to actually go _towards _the burning of the area around his home. Perhaps he was too psychologically scarred and paralyzed to fully take in what was happening, she didn't know. She didn't care.

Perhaps it was the smallest amount of pity in the universe that allowed her to reach in her waist pockets and throw a handful of bread crumbs at his feet. The slave seemed to forget all about his fear and he hungrily lapped at the small amounts of food that had been tossed to him by the alien woman.

"I am a generous goddess Mon'keigh." she sneered as she walked over and delivered a vicious kick to the slave's ribs. The deformed human cried out in pain and fell onto his side, his hands still feebly reaching for the bread crumbs.

"...and you should treat me as such." she added and stomped on his stomach, causing blood to spill from his mouth and open wounds all across his body.

She looked down at his broken form and shook her head in disgust. He was a stupid creature and nothing more and it angered her that said stupid creature could exist in this universe. The hexatrix gave one last snort of disgust and walked away continuing on her business.

The time was soon approaching that she would confront the slave's new master once and for all and win back what once was hers. That was why she had kept an eye on him at all times as he roamed about the Kabal-running errands for the pain doctor. She had categorized his movements and memorized the patterns of common paths. When the final day of her stay in the Dark City came to be, she knew the pain doctor would walk the same paths the slave was.

She would be waiting for him.

In the midst of the coming together of her plan, she suddenly stopped and turned around.

The slave was gone.

As were the bread crumbs.

She blinked a couple of times.

She wondered why she kept giving him food every now and then.

The hexatrix shoved the thoughts to a far corner of her mind and made her way to the jetbike hangar near the mid-section of the fortress. There was deal she needed to complete. On the way she passed several of her comrades and they exchanged nods of acknowledgement before she entered the wide hangar that housed the sleek and dagger-shaped Reaver jetbikes.

The Reavers were layered all along the oval shaped hangar-either sitting on the level that everyone walking into the hangar on or handing from the walls and ceiling via metal appendages sticking out from the walls. The hangar was massive in order to house the thousands upon thousands of jetbikes needed for the Kabal's many pilots.

She found the nearest jetbike sitting on a causeway to her right and kicked the slave that was cleaning its hull over the edge of the causeway into the chasm below, not caring for its screams as she slipped her right leg over the seat and reached for the ignition key.

"I would appreciate if you stopped doing that. Slaves, be it humans or any other lesser being...are not to be taken for granted." a new voice sounded from the entrance that the hexatrix had just walked through.

She froze her movements and took a breath, "My archon."

Archon Selia, the head of the Kabal of the Poisoned Sickle, was a tall and athletic wych whose abilites and beauty far outclassed that of the hexatrix. These were perhaps the only reasons that the hexatrix herself was jealous of the archon and nothing more.

The lady archon's ridiculously long midnight blue hair was tied together in a tail by one clip near the base of her head and then multiple bladed clips every few inches the rest of the way. Some said that she was trying to replicate Lelith Hesperax in her appearance, but those people were never seen or heard from again after they had uttered such rumors.

The hexatrix cocked her head in the direction of her archon, who was emerging from the shadows under the entrance to the hangar, her eyes and mouth forming what looked like a friendly grin but behind it all hid a mind as dark and as murderous as the rest of Commorragh.

"The sight of such lesser creatures actually living annoys me." the hexatrix replied, spreading her arms, "I cannot help myself."

The archon held her smile, "A hilarious lie...nevertheless..." she walked over to the jetbike and jumped up onto its hull, walking forward and bending down atop the hood to face the hexatrix, who sat still in the seat. The archon leaned forward with expert balance and her grin widened even more.

"The thrill of spilled blood becoming too much for you...Craftworlder?" she asked, cocking her head.

The hexatrix narrowed her eyes and barred her increasingly sharp teeth as she snarled, "I care not for that prison that I am forced to acknowledge was once my home. You question my motives my archon? Why would I have so willingly handed myself over to you in the first place?" the hexatrix snarl became a smile, "We have this conversation nearly every pass, are you not convinced of something?"

Selia leaned forward even more so that her cool breath was upon the hexatrix's face, "I appreciate your devotion...No...these last few raids have brought in the most abundant and worthy of maggots to be toyed with in the arenas for a _very _long time...Especially these humans...my my...have a grudge against them do you?"

The hexatrix leaned forward so that their faces were mere inches from each other, "My father...was butchered by their filthy hands...and I will see them all humiliated and pained...as I have been pained and humiliated."

"Oh...that's right...you had a life before you came to me. How interesting." the archon sneered and hopped to shift her weight between her legs but not retreating at all. "A wise choice for a young and bloody bride like yourself. It is further interesting that you have become nearly irreplaceable since your arrival...the worlds we previously...enjoyed...do not compare nearly as much as the ones you find."

"I have my sources." the hexatrix smiled.

The archon's smile loosened and she reached out to drag a talon like finger across the hexatrix's cheek, "Do be careful out there...lest you _want _the Bloody Thorns to find you out there." Selia then stood up and backed off the hood of the Reaver.

"You know me my archon..." the hexatrix said as she kick started the jet bike and felt it hum to life and lift off the ground. The hexatrix urged it forward and stopped it right to the side of the archon, who raised an eyebrow.

She turned to the archon and tossed her long tail of hair behind her and said, "I am fiercely loyal."

The archon smiled.

With that, the hexatrix punched accelerator and felt the Reaver lurch dramatically as it responded instantly to her hand movements. It sped along the runway in the middle of the hangar towards the exit where only the swirling dark sky of Commorragh was visible. She began to scream in ecstasy as the jetbike's speed wen't higher and higher until it exited the the hangar and flew out over the gloomy sky.

She gave the jetbike a couple of twists, turns, and rolls before leveling it out and diving into the cloud cover below her, intent on one destination.

She had business in the Null City.

The lone Reaver stayed just below the clouds as its pilot maneuvered it upside down where she could get an odd view of the Commorragh that passed beneath her. Ironically, it looked peaceful from up high but down below it was inevitable that innumerable number of plots, schemes, and murders were taking place.

Tonight, she was going to add to that number.

The Null City was near what most what associate as the center of Commorragh and dangerously closed to the Black Heart Kabal, home to the Great Tyrant himself. She had no fears about the Great Tyrant interfering with her plans however, he had more important and malicious duties to attend to than deal with but a lonely hexatrix on the path to betraying her Kabal.

A about a half an hour later of flight time she looked down and saw that the grand spires that once indicated the powerful Kabals of Commorragh were beginning to disappear. This was her time to act.

She forced the Reaver into a dive and her grin widened to maniacal levels as she felt the rush of blood throughout her body. The thrill of going at such a speed was exhilarating.

Soon, a large opening in the ground seemed to appear before her eyes and she knew this was the way to the Null City. The opening in the ground was actually a simple passage way from High Commorragh to Low Commorragh, and passing through it indicated that the danger would increase ten fold.

She felt no fear however.

As she passed through the opening in the ground she was met by yet another layer of clouds but this time the cover was thinner and not as abundant in High Commorragh and she passed through it rather quickly.

The Null City lay before her.

There was barely any artificial light lighting the laughable excuse for a shanty city. The only light coming from passing patrols of tiny Kabals or random splinter fire being used to settle old scores. The hexatrix leveled the Reaver out and made her way northwest over the shack city.

Another couple minutes of flight time and she looked down to see a singular shack with her sharp eyes that appeared to between a larger multitude of shacks that were arranged in a poor representation of a talon from a winged creature.

This was her destination.

She dove with the Reaver and passed over the tiny metal shack once before coming around and landing to the side of it. The hexatrix knew no one else would be here for any squatters or lowly creatures that had inhabited this part of the Null City had been exterminated, evidenced by the number of smoldering corpses still surrounding the singular shack.

_Good...they're here..._She thought as she exited her Reaver and strode inside the shack. It was nothing more than a tall rectangular room with a small wooden table in the middle. It almost made her laugh at the simplicity of it.

The hexatrix looked around the rundown shack before smiling to no one and asking aloud, "Oh...I do hope no one will surprise me here...I am just a young maiden of our light-hearted cousins...I do not wish to go like that..."

There was a shadowy movement to her left and she felt herself being thrust up against the wall with her legs spread out. She felt large and cool hands grip her underneath her thighs and warm lips engulf hers as she moaned into her lover's mouth, wrapping her arms around the broad and armored shoulders of Valos Xel of the Kabal of the Bloody Thorns.

"Hello there my sweet...did you miss my horrifying face?" Valos grinned with sharpened teeth as they broke their lustful kiss.

"Not in the slightest...I was in fact being entertained by one of my own before I remembered my little Kabalite prince waiting for me across the city." the hexatrix laughed, which earned another passionate kiss on the neck.

The female laughed and gently pushed her lover away while saying, "There will be time for more fun later my dear...but now...business."

Valos smiled again and stood aside as the sound of sputtering engines flared all around outside the shack and lights began to shine through the cracks and holes int he walls. Soon the sound of the engines faded as heavy footsteps replaced them, much heavier than her own.

Through the openings on either side of the opposite wall came three massive forms and two more appeared from the entrances to her left and right. She recognized their armor immediately-four incubi and one archon.

Archon Belthian, head of the Kabal of the Bloody Thorns.

He was a larger Eldar with scars going this way and that across his face-the result of an uncountable number of assassination attempts from within and external threats. His armor was a dark shade of red with the singular symbol of a thorny branch dripping blood on his left breast plate. His armor was serrated where it needed to be and curved to signify his superiority.

He was far larger than her own Archon and by all means far more sinister, but the measuring of evil in Commorragh had no limits. Apparently he had once been a distant relative of Nyos Yllithian of the White Flames but had been kicked out for trying to assassinate said Archon. Having built his Kabal up from literally nothing, he would similarly stop at nothing to expand its domain.

The archon narrowed his midnight black eyes at the hexatrix who simply smiled back as the two came closer to the table in the middle of the shack, having been lit by two small candles brought in by a deformed slave who quickly hurried out.

"You are the one that made me this offer, what your terms?" Belthian asked gruffly.

The hexatrix sighed and dragged her right hand around the table lazily, "My dear archon, we both know it will never be as simple as that...we both know that our agreement will end the moment both of our actions on this cycle are sealed. Nevertheless...my terms are simple..." she said as she reached into her pockets on her waist.

The incubi moved forward a step and tightened their grips on their klaives.

The hexatrix chuckled but removed a single object from her pouch and tossed it up onto the table so that it was clearly illuminated by the light from the candles. The archon's eyes drifted to the object and he reached for it and held it out in front of it, running his fingers over it before looking to the hexatrix for clarification.

"The webway rune as promised. Used for quick escapes and equally sudden surprises. This one in particular I stole off of a farseer of Biel-Tan Craftworld. Tough to do I might add, dancing with the seers." the hexatrix smiled.

"I care not for your little history lessons wych, I know how to use it." he snarled and he closed his fist over the rune and placed it in his waist pouches and he turned back to the hexatrix as he continued, "In five cycles time, the invasion will commence. I will have Selia's head and that fortress. Their will be no title of archon for you little wych." he smiled grimly.

The hexatrix twirled a finger through her long hair and sighed, "My dear archon, did I say I wanted that position in the first place? The title would be nice...but the number of attempted assassinations? The responsibilities? Oh no...I do think that is not within my realm of interest."

"Then what do you ask for?" the Archon asked suspiciously.

The female smiled excitedly, this was what she was waiting for, "That you leave the pain doctor to me...he and I have some...unfinished...business to attend to you. Do what you wish with my Kabal, I care not for any of their fates. Lastly...that I be granted a position within your ranks...you know...for obvious reasons." she said as Valos stepped forward behind her into the light.

The archon looked from Valos to the hexatrix before he snarled in disgust and he shook his head, "Very well. If you are killed in the crossfire, She Who Thirsts will have your soul, I will not think of you again. If you are not, then the Bloody Thorns will reward you for your efforts." he said as he nodded, which signaled to the incubi that it was time to leave. The archon and his bodyguards turned on their heels and swiftly left, the sounds of the Raider craft and Venoms flaring their engines sounded before they disappeared once more into the Commorraghan sky.

The hexatrix smield and sighed happily as she turned around, receiving another kiss from Valos. When they broke apart, they held each other in their lover's arms.

Valos spoke, "Soon, we shall be together finally, no longer separated by the names of Kabals." he slipped his hand across her stomach and up towards her breastplate hungrily but her hands were upon his instantly.

She leaned forward and whispered into his right ear, "I prefer to have our hunger for each other denied until the end of the fifth cycle. Then...when our victory is assured...may the celebration be twice as great. Don't you agree my love?"

The Kabalite warrior pulled back and eyed the female before smiling, "How could I have been so foolish...of course my sweet...that sounds much more preferable."

The hexatrix smiled lustfully and gave him a brushing kiss on the cheek before climbing off the table he had pushed her onto and made for the entrance she had first come through. She stopped at the opening and cocked her head back to see Valos smiling back at her.

"May I have my love's name before I head off into the great slaughter?" he laughed sarcastically.

The female wagged a finger back at him, "You must rescue me from the clutches of my cruel Kabal to learn my name...only then will I reward you with the beauty of my name." she laughed and jumped acrobatically onto her waiting jetbike just outside the entrance, leaving her lover to chuckle in amusement.

She flared the engines and took off into the night, back towards the Kabal of the Poisoned Sickle's fortress.

As the Null City became embroiled in thick fog once more, her grip on the jetbike's controls became harder as her heart rate quickened. Her thoughts were racing with apprehension and she was caught between excitement and fear. Somehow, she found her middle ground and relaxed herself.

Her eyes narrowed and she lost her smile. Everywhere along her body, her nerves became as cold and hard as steel.

"My name is Annath." she said coldly, "Annath of Ulthwé."

* * *

_She is a disgrace to life._

_She has her motives, and now you see...she is an excellent strategist. _

_This one that you have chosen will kill and murder like the rest of her kind. Using her situation to her advantage is her specialty and she will see my son dead._

_And humans are any different? You mistake how similar they are...our kin._

_Our kin?_

_Our kin._


	6. Entity

****500 days later...****

Work.

Bring the master more flesh bags.

Serve the master's friends.

Get beaten.

Work.

Bring the master more flesh bags.

Serve the master's friends.

Get beaten.

Work.

Bring the master more flesh bags.

Serve the master's friends.

Get beaten.

Work.

Bring the master more flesh bags.

Serve the master's friends.

Get beaten.

Work.

Bring the master more flesh bags.

Serve the master's friends.

Get beaten.

Receive a bit of food from that one alien woman.

Work.

That was all he ever did.

He didn't remember much of the past, vague images here and there would instantly be blotted out by unbearable pain. The master made sure of that, that he would know nothing more of his past and said master had done a good job of accomplishing that goal.

The pain. So much of it. So much less of anything else. Any and all nerve endings had been exploited by his master within the first couple hours of being in his "care" as he called it. The master was very skilled at what he did and he made sure of it.

His already vulnerable mind had been broken within the first couple days and he had lost all sense of awareness. He had long forgotten his name or his past life, replaced and dominated by pain.

The skin across his body was partly flayed in different places and had healed over terribly. Different bones and ligaments were broken and mended in odd places and it was hard to tell he was still human as his facial bones and jaw had been broken and fractured by beatings almost regular from the Kabal's many members. The skin on his head was bald and peeled and his ears cut to shreds to the point where he barely retained his sense of hearing.

He hobbled hunched over but a cloth to cover his modesty that was in far worse condition than most of his body. An iron star was latched around his neck to prevent him from fully standing up straight. Starvation had reduced his muscle mass and his partially flayed skin showed what little was left. Even though this amount of pain and situation should constitute death by normal human standards, his master seemed to enjoy the tortured slave had once been a farm worker on some distant human world. He but those skills to use.

The slave slobbered and drooled out of his pierced mouth as he hobbled down the corridors of the Kabal fortress. In his hands he carried two heads of a species of alien unknown to him that his master had requested of the archon. The Kabal had recently returned from a raid into real space and returned with a multitude of more slaves that were blue-skinned, bald, and had no noses.

_Curious creatures..._the slave's feeble mind managed to think. He served the master now and had long ago lost his sanity but still had the ability to think past the pain of living each and every day, a reminder of time gone and long past.

He continued hobbling down the current corridor until he had reached a regular sized black iron door that signaled the entrance to the massive downward spiral to his master's den at the bottom of the fortress. The slave reached forth with a broken finger and overgrown nail to trace a memorized pattern on the doors frame known only to the master's slaves and the master himself.

The door's pressure sensors took in the correct pattern and began unlocking its internal locks and it slowly opened in to show a black abyss inside. The slave formed a crooked grin and hefted the bloody heads in his armpits as he hobbled forth. When he had past the door, it shut again behind him as he let out a sinister giggle.

Unbeknownst that a certain wych had watched him the entire time.

The slave's dreary eyes became accustomed to the complete darkness rather quickly due to his being down here regularly. Nevertheless, he was keen to make sure he took each cold step carefully for if there was one wrong move he could easily tumble to the side and fall all the way to the ground floor below, and that would be most unpleasant.

The spiral stair case extended down to the base of the fortress where the ground level spread out into a multitude of more hallways and passageways around the bottom of the fortress. Some said that they're were exists to the ground level of High Commorragh at the edges of this level but then again, few if any lived to find them.

This was because the ground level was actually a labyrinth that mimicked his masters old masters. This his master had told him directly because his teachers were a very secretive order with few friends (if any would call them friends) outside of their coven. When the Archon had appointed Vasili to his position, had taken great measure to make sure that his position was solidified not by making deals, but to make sure no one made it to him alive to dispose of him.

So far it had worked.

The slave grunted like a sick animal as he kept descending to the left. Soon however the stair case leveled out for a moment for turning to the right.

His master was a genius of his own design for he had led the entire Kabal on to believe that his laboratory was somewhere down there in the labyrinth of whose diameter was rumored to spread only half the base of the Kabal fortress. This was far from the truth however as the only ones who truly knew where it was where his master, himself, other slaves like him, and the Archon (who rarely came down here and instead summoned Vasili to the higher levels of the fortress when needed).

After what seemed like another eternity of walking down and to the right, the staircase came to a square lift which the slave hobbled forth to and waited for a second before it began moving straight down.

He was still sore in his sides from having been served a good beating by that one alien woman. It was curious that she occasionally tossed him bread crumbs and then promptly beat the living daylights out of him afterward each time. Of course, he was not one to dwell on such things as he continued his downward stroll towards his master's domain.

Below him lay perhaps another fifteen or twenty minutes of downward walking that would fool most people who would come down here. However, the slave knew that he had already arrived at his destination. He had reached a small platform in the stairs and then hobbled forth seven steps that his master had rather painfully made him memorize even in his broken state.

Suddenly, the blue alien head under his right arm slipped and fell out of his grasp. He squealed in fright before he reached out with a foot and stopped the head from rolling down the steps in front of it, all be it still leaked blood over the stairs. The master would not have been happy if he had lost a prime specimen.

The slave held the head in place with his mangled right foot while reaching over to the right with his right hand to feel the wall. He was feeling around for an otherwise inconspicuous hole in the wall which would mark the entrance to his master's laboratory.

At first fear began to creep into his mind as he couldn't find it, but his right index finger eventually found a small hole in the wall that marked the second door in his journey to his master's domain. Unknown to all but a few, this hole wasn't made by random formations in the walls of the fortress nor was it accidental. It was put there for a purpose and as the slave began to move his finger, that purpose became clear.

The hole moved across the wall like one would drag their finger naturally the water. In fact the wall itself didn't even seem to be solid either as the small hole moved across it according to the slave's movements. The moved in different directions as carefully as he could will wincing and groaning at the pain all over his body and holding the alien's head still with his right foot.

One wrong move and the slave could be sucked into a place where only the worst horrors of the universe resided.

But the slave had been the most careful of his master's servants, especially after watching some of the more unfortunate ones screw up and earn themselves a one way ticket to who knows where.

The slave made one last movement to the right and a clicking noise was heard and he quickly withdrew his finger quickly as the wall began to peel back like rippling water from the middle, or where the hole had started out to be. The hole was only temporary and the slave quickly picked up the head on the ground and jumped through the makeshift portal before he suddenly snapped back and closed behind him.

It was mostly dark in the tunnel he was now in but he was now safe within his master's domain. There was a bright light from directly in front of him that signaled his master's laboratory was directly in front of him. In addition, the moans and cries of pained creatures cemented his knowledge that he was in the right place.

He hobbled along the sandy ground as the light grew brighter and the moans of pain became clearer. When he was close enough, he could see the master raised on his extra mechanical limbs up off the ground and apparently was working on some strange alien on the operating table. It was only when the slave hobbled up to the side of the master did he realize that the alien was no alien at all, it was one of the master's high servants...a wrack...his master had called it.

They were inside the master's primary operating room but it was only one of many connected rooms that made up the master's domain. There were added laboratories and experiment rooms that could be entered through adjacent doors. All along the dome walls, creatures of many species hung by one body part or the other-most of them still alive or in another state of pain. The most curious were the heads because while they were missing their bodies, the master had figured out someway to make them talk and feel pain still.

The slave never bothered to ask the master how this was possible. He knew better than to interrupt so he hung his head over and continued wincing in pain as the master barely took notice of him.

About a half an hour later, the master sighed through his grill and looked down and to the left where the slave was hunched over and holding the alien heads in his hands.

The master turned his entire body to the slave and bent down to his level. If he could smile through his grill, he would do it as he said, "Hello pet, I see you brought me what I desired from the Archon." he said as two appendages reached forth to the slave.

The slave responded by turning still hunched over and holding out the bloodied blue heads in his hands, which the appendages took in their three-fingered claws and brought them up to the operating table.

"This one thinks the master will be pleased with what he has brought him." the slave stuttered.

The master nodded, "Indeed I am. Unfortunately, I do believe good Dadros here is...well...I should I say this...in a healing coma? I know he isn't liking it because he can't feel the pain that he so desires. With due time, a simple pain surge will probably perk him up but for now...huh...it appears my most loyal subject is incapacitated." the master said, gesturing to the wrack on the table.

Still the slave did not look up but muttered lowly, "This one did not like him anyway."

"Care to repeat that pet?" the master replied sharply, not looking away from the operating table.

The slave instantly knew he was in trouble, "This one apologizes! This one apologizes for the statement! Merciful master!"

The master laughed in response, "Oh no I am no angry with you pet in fact I was going to agree with you. Even though Dadros' loyalty to me was by far the strongest he wasn't exactly...the brightest of his bunch. Blindly following orders not caring for the fact that it is time-consuming to repair his body."

His appendages moved the master to the far end of the table, "Think of this way, if I told Dadros to bring me back required or otherwise mandatory materials that I needed now...but then I also ordered him to kill himself in the process...he would kill himself! Can you believe that? Total disregard for my earlier orders!"

The master's top appendages suddenly flared up and drove themselves into the unconscious wrack, bursting through artificial muscle and sinew instantly and tearing apart limbs. The appendages lifted the wrack's body parts and flung them at the tortured souls lining the walls.

"A waste of my time." the master sighed and hung his head over.

The slave was still, shaking with fear.

"But you my pet..." the master said, lifting his head and moving back around the table to lower himself next to the slave, who slowly turned to look into the carnivorous yellow eyes of his master.

"...have affirmed your loyalty not through brute strength...but by compliance..." the master laughed.

"T-t-this one does not understand master." the slave stuttered.

The master reached forth with his true right hand and felt the cool metal of the slave's harness that rested on top of the shoulders and traced a bony finger down the length of the slave's cheek.

"You obey my ever order in the order it is meant to be carried out!" the master snapped and knocked the slave to the sand. The slave cried out in pain as the master's appendages raised him higher and he walked over the slave cowering on the ground over to a shelf on the side of the small dome.

"...and that is a good thing my pet." the master said, "We...the haemonculi of Commorragh have our differences of practices and rules but we stay true to the standard that we cannot do everything ourselves. Hence why we loan our services to different Kabals and Cults about the Dark City. Hence...why you will now take Dadros' place at my side." the haemonculus said.

"T-t-this...o-one...is...is...grateful...master." the slave breathed.

"Good, that's what I thought you'd say." the master said, and began fiddling with equipment on the counter. He was in the midst of doing this when something clicked in his mind and he put down his tools.

"What news from the Lady Archon?" he asked, his head cocked to the upper left to listen to a cacophony of crones sing a painful song.

"A b-b-banquet is to be held in the next c-c-cycle...the...a-ar-archon mandates...your presence." the slave and soon to be wrack stuttered. He imagined that his master was less than grateful for the mandatory appearance at this...feast...it seemed almost contradictory to Selia's motives with respect to his predecessors in the Kabal of the Poisoned Sickle.

The Haemonculus narrowed his eyes and then closed them as he tried to understand why the Archon would want him at this feast-his flesh did not need food like most mortal creatures. He opened his eyes and sighed as he understood-Selia wanted to make a statement...that the Haemonculus was still under her control despite her lenient control.

A consolidation of power? How typical of the Lady Archon.

The pain doctor was forced to recognize a shiver of fear-he was not one to underestimate the brutality of the Lady Archon as he was all too familiar of the fates of his predecessors, but luckily they had all given Selia a reason to have their fates sealed and Vasili himself was close to breaking the record for the longest-serving haemonculi in the Kabal of the Poisoned Sickle.

He was determined to keep it that way.

As he returned to sorting materials on the counter, he asked another question, "That was not the reason you were late was it?" He laughed internally when he heard the young slave whimper behind him.

"N-n-no...master."

"Pray...tell..." he hissed lowly.

"T-t-that alien woman...s-s-she attacked me! She d-d-does this often! This o-o-one did not want to hinder you with...such...such..." the slave's voice trailed off.

"Trivial matters?" The haemonculus finished the slaves sentence for him and threw his head back to laugh, "Oh my dear pet...you were right to think in that way but lately I have kept a close eye on your body and I have noticed wounds that have not been inflicted by myself or Dadros...Tell me...does this alien woman beat you often?" he turned around and looked to the side at the slave.

The slave nodded his head feverishly.

"Is it the same one every time?"

He nodded again.

The haemonculus cocked his head in interest, "Does she have a long scar across her navel?" he said, dragging a finger across his mid-section to imitate what he was talking about.

The slave nodded a third time.

His master grinned maniacally behind his mask and said, "Annath...How adorable..." his eyes looked around the dome at the variety of bodies and heads hanging everywhere across the dome, "Oh my dear Annath...how you would make a nice collection to my pain choir." he turned back to his counter and reached forth over it to the wall.

His main right arm reached for a finger into a hole in the wall and like the slave before him-made a flurry of movements across the seemingly liquid concrete wall before it warped out to show a small inlet in the wall.

Revealing a glowing blue light.

The slave's master snarled, "If only the Lady Archon wasn't so interested in making you her publicity girl...scouting planets for raids not a couple of cycles later and then shoving it in the face of Craftworlds and Kabals alike. Oh you do know how to make allies my dear Annath..." he hissed as he reached forth to grab the source of the glowing blue light-a small orb attached to a chain.

He pulled it back and held it in his hand, "If the Archon ever found out what I had planned to do with her prized Craftworlder when we first met her...I may have joined my predecessors right then and there, and for what? To miss out on an opportunity of a torturing of a lifetime?" he said as he pushed the orb around in his hand.

"Does the master have a plan in mind for the alien woman?" the slave asked through gritted and crooked teeth.

"Plan?" the haemonculus echoed and then his eyes looked up and he stared at the wall. He then asked, "When does this feast that the Archon so desires my presence for begin?"

"This one was told in less than half a cycle."

"Annath will be there..." he hissed lowly and looked down at the glowing orb in his hand, "...and she will be within my grasp once more. However...I know what she desires my dear pet." he turned back to the slave.

He held up the orb by the chain, "You see my dear pet, she desires this object above anything else and to retrieve it, she has constructed an elaborate plan. She is a genius like that...she has orchestrated everything to this very point in time-to make her Archon believe that her Kabal's power was reaching a new, unrivaled level in this area of High Commorragh."

The haemonculus' appendages carried him closer to the slave, who was sitting and staring at his master in complete awe, "She is the primary reason this Kabal has been so successful recently-whether it is bringing in new fleshlings or recruiting new minions for the slaughter...it matters not to the Archon...your tormentor...the alien woman you describe...she has done everything for this Kabal to obtain...this..." he held the orb up to the slave's face, who was still in a state of complete wonder.

"T-t-this one does not understand."

The haemonculus held the orb there and looked back and forth between it and the slave before standing to his full height and smiling, "Of course, I do not expect your feeble and inferior mind to comprehend such plans. I will summarize then my dear pet..." he said and looked down at the slave, "In less than half a cycle as you have told me, the Archon will hold a feast to commemorate "her" victories to the entire Kabal...including me. Do you understand that?"

The slave nodded.

"When every high-ranking subordinate within this Kabal is gathered...including me...Annath will make her move. In fact, she is probably already in the process of moving her last pieces into place as we speak, which is most likely recruiting the aid of this Kabal's primary enemies...the Bloody Thorns." he glanced down at the slave.

"B-b-but the master will be killed!" the slave cried out.

The haemonculus smiled, "Annath intends to dispatch me in the crossfire and reclaim what is hers by incapacitating me and torturing me into revealing her trinket's location. She will use every technique necessary...which is why my dear pet...we will give her a surprise of our own..." he moved towards the slave.

"The master w-w-will kill the alien woman when she intends to kill the master?" the slave asked warily.

"Not quite but close...no...I want to see the horror in her eyes...the complete helplessness and utter fear shake her to her already damned soul when she realizes how simply her plans have turned on her...this...is where you come in my dear pet." the haemonculus grinned and flew forward with blinding speed and wrenched the slave's mouth open with twin appendage claws.

The slave screeched in pain even as the haemonculus lifted up the glowing orb above the slave's open mouth and promptly dropped it directly into the slave's throat, allowing it to slither down painfully into his stomach. The appendages smashed the slave's mouth shut and the haemonculus shook him a couple of times before saying, "There, that ought to fool that bitch."

He then moved quickly to grab two demi-klaives lying on the counter and hid them under neath his appendages and heavy coat, where they would be unseen by all when he entered the dining hall at the top of the Kabal fortress.

"Well...let us not keep the good Lady Archon waiting." he said as his appendages carried him towards the exit, with the groaning slave not too far behind.

* * *

Annath the Hexatrix moved to the southeast quadrant of the fortress of the fortress unhindered and unseen by anyone. Her squad of whom she had grown to both love and despise on a daily basis had all been given a lovely present in their combat drugs courtesy of their Hexatrix herself. It had taken careful planning but she had managed to slip deadly bio-toxins in their next batch of drugs to use. She was sure they would all be using them in the next hour.

Everything was proceeding just as planned.

She assumed Archon Belthian and his entire Kabal were mobilizing by now or at least she had the slightest faith that he was actually going to go through with trying to take over the Kabal of the Poisoned Sickle. She knew that She Who Thirsts would feasting tonight, but it would not be her soul that the Great Enemy tortured tonight.

She passed many of her comrades that were completely unaware of what was about to happen, or that the perpetrator of said happening was walking among them a wide smile on her face.

Her destinations were many across the fortress but this one was the first one that she would drop and she was sure that Belthian would come through this one, in fact, he was probably waiting or at least preparing on the other side of High Commorragh by now. His air force of reavers, venoms, raiders, and razorwings were most likely already on their way.

She took many lifts and stair cases to get to her destination-a large door which led to storage rooms that in turn held the Kabal's assortment of foods and wines, usually attended to by slaves guarded by bored Kabalite warriors.

When she finally arrived, there was a group of slaves gathered around the main entrance, with two Kabalites striking them with whips and chains to make them work faster-they were bringing out crates worth of food and beverages for what would have been tonight's banquet.

Annath's feet were more quiet than silence itself as she pulled out her dual splinter pistols and held down their triggers until the unsuspecting warriors and the slaves were but mincemeat at her feet, their blood mixing and pooling at the base of the crates as she walked past.

She snorted in disgust as she kicked the bodies of the slaves to the side and entered the storage room. The room should have been renamed a warehouse because of enormity in addition to the fact that it was connected to a series of smaller vaults holding various treasures and trophies taken from planetary raids. She stepped inside and continued on her way towards the center of the vault.

After a short time she reached an empty area about forty or thirty yards below the main entrance to the storage vaults lit brightly by overhead lights. The excitement in her blood was reaching near uncontrollable levels. Her time of revenge and escape was fast approaching and she had to fight her inner urges to suppress unwanted actions.

She reached into her waist pouch and pulled one of many small octagon runes, each with a symbol dictating a number in the rune system's sequence. Separating them in her right hand, she singled out the first one and cast it onto the floor where it spun into a dark corner and out of sight.

Content that this otherwise easy job was done here, she promptly left the storage area, not caring for the bodies of the warriors and slaves at the entrance to the warehouse as she continued on her way. Over the next half hour, she placed twenty more runes in order in different places across the Kabal fortress, ruthlessly gunning down anyone that happen to have their backs toward her. This time however, she made sure to clean up the messes that she made.

The places that she had put the runes in included weapons vaults, storage areas, the reaver hangar, training rooms, beast pens, and the occasional random spot in a hallway or passageway.

When she was done, all but one of the runes had been placed, the last of which she was keeping for the grand finale. It was nearly time for the banquet anyway.

The dining hall was located near the top of the Kabal fortress surrounded by heavy armor plating on the outer walls and even that, formidable void shields surrounded the fortress on the outside. To attack from the outside without a sizable invasion force was practically suicide by an offensive force, which was the primary reason why Annath had single-handedly exposed the fortress' only weakness.

Along the way to the dining hall, she was joined by the mute Odarias and the violet haired Vakali of whom she had requested to join her at the feast. The wych happened to glance down and noticed that both of them were carrying their combat drug vials on their waist pockets. She smiled to herself and almost sighed with pleasure.

When the three wyches entered, they were met by two slaves on either side of the west entrance to the grand doorway holding up platters of fruits from which they took and munched on gingerly. The dining hall consisted of a large square table which sat most of the Kabal's hexatrixes and succubi along with a few scattered pilots and Trueborns, the latter of which surrounded the Archon at the north end of the dining hall.

The Poisoned Sickle was primarily a wych Kabal but it did not stop Selia from actively recruiting any allies she could find and true to her word, the Kabal had grown large in recent cycles, primarily due to the successes in real space and the fact that most wanderers wanted in on the raids and the slaughter that they brought. The druchii were curious that way-drawn to the slaughter but in the end that's how most of them entered the domain of She Who Thirsts.

Annath saw Selia conversing with her lover, a Razorwing pilot. The Archon saw her and nodded at her before turning to laugh at something her mate had said. The three wyches took their seats near the back of the dining hall that sat completely on the opposite side of the Archon. As soon as the sat down, Vakali whispered to her, "The Archon is in high spirits this cycle, it has been a glorious past couple raids for the Kabal."

Annath cocked her head at Vakali.

"No thanks to you of course my Hexatrix." Vakali teased and began devouring a plate of meat in front of her.

Odarias in turn placed a hand on Annath's thigh from underneath the table and slowly began moving it upwards towards her pelvic region, dragging one finger around her skin tortuously. Annath moaned at the intense sensations and smiled manically at Odarias to her left, who seemed to be enjoying this act just as much as Annath was.

"You are going to receive a torturing of a lifetime after we are done here." she growled through gritted teeth.

The mute wych simply grinned and continued her movements.

The pre-feast discussions continued between the Kabalites gathered for another couple of minutes as the dining room filled. There was lively conversations until the East doors opened and in came the greatest nemesis Annath had ever known-the Haemonculus Vasili. Every head in the room shut its mouth and turned its eyes to watch the Haemonculus enter with his head raised and the slave Annath knew all to well at his side.

The slave seemed to be clutching his stomach in pain, but that didn't matter to her. Annath was the only one thrilled to finally have the Haemonculus and the heads of the Kabal all in the same room at the peak of her greatest moment.

Selia took advantage of the silence, "Well Vasili I must admit I was thinking about dragging out of your hole in the wall myself, what convinced you come out and socialize?"

The Haemonculus took up a position at the side of the wall and lowered himself to his own two feet, "I couldn't resist the urge to cash in on a little...party...after all, are we not celebrating the Kabal's recent achievements? The success of the Kabal means more materials for me in the end Lady Archon. If the Kabal is happy...then naturally I am happy." Vasili bowed his head.

"Wise words from the pain doctor himself!" Selia said and raised a wine filled goblet to Vasili before standing up and leaping onto the table.

Annath placed the last rune on the ground by flipping it onto the roof of her right foot and then letting it slide onto the floor. Making sure no one was looking through the corners of her eyes, she kicked it back slowly so that it did not make a sound as it slid across the ground and beneath the guard's feet who was standing right behind her and under his field of vision.

Selia began what Annath could all but guarantee to be a populous speech, "My loyal subjects...dear friends...savage Kabalites...did you know that his Kabal started out with only one follower...my ancestor Vestixen, who laid the foundation for her Kabal whose borders are ever-expanding and has reaped the benefits...or lesser races...that the galaxy has to offer."

There was a chorus of laughter.

Her feet carefully danced around the empty spots on tables as she walked around, "Seems only yesterday that Vestixen herself walked these halls and began her rise to High Commorragh on the backs of the weak and her enemies alike. She knew this day would come and I...Selia...am proud to lead this Kabal into its bright future."

Annath rolled her eyes internally.

"It was not until the arrival of one in particular that this Kabal reached its tipping point and poured itself into the pot of glory." Selia said, who had returned to her spot at the gigantic table and then turned on her heels to Annath, "Annath my dear...raise your goblet to me."

The hexatrix leaped up onto the table and mimicked her Archon's position.

Selia continued, "You have supplied me with an uncountable number of lesser worlds of of which reap the ripest of benefits from. No longer have we had to waste time fighting armies when we can get straight to slaughter. What more could I...what more could this Kabal ask for?" Selia asked and raised her goblet to Annath, "My thanks...Hexatrix."

Annath grinned and they both took massive drinks of their goblets, wine overflowing and pouring down their necks. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vasili whisper into the ear of the human slave, and it made her blood boil.

"Speech! Speech! Speech!" the gathered Kabalites began to shout at her.

Selia gestured with her hands for peace and then motioned for Annath to begin. The Craftworlder turned Hexatrix lowered her goblet to the floor and began to speak, "Turning my back on the Craftworld was the perhaps the greatest decision I could have ever made. It has proved rewarding as we are all aware by now..." she said.

She spread her arms, "Now...to have a new city to call home...a far better one I might add...to have no restrictions, no limitations and perhaps best of all...no inhibitions. Our wayward cousins have deluded themselves to musing about the future and lamenting the past. How they fail to see their own doom right in front of them."

This statement earned an assortment of hoots and cheers.

"Lastly...my Archon." Annath's eyes turned to Selia, "This party you have thrown in the Kabal's honor...it is by far the largest show of our victory since your ancestor of course." she drummed her fingers on her waist where in one of her pockets, the activation rune for the miniature webway system was thumbed and activated.

"So..." she continued as the rune at the back-end of the dining hall began to glow, along with all other runes across the fortress.

"I took the liberty of killing the entire crew manning the fortress' shields and..." she grinned manically as a sudden change of mood swept over the dining hall.

"I invited the Bloody Thorns to join us in our...celebration." she said, her grin growing into one of insanity as she opened her arms as far as they could go. The runes burst forth to produce a large two-dimensional swirling circle with spiraling edges and a constantly flashing center.

"She Who Thirsts consume you all. Long live the people of Ulthwé." she screamed as she threw herself off the table and onto the floor just as splinter and darklight fire began firing through the portal and onto the completely surprised Poisoned Sickle Kabalites. The Archon's lover was turned to a bloody mess beside her by a direct hit from splinter fire.

Three massive forms leaped out of the portal first-Archon Belthian and two equally giant Incubi which began swinging their klaives even as they were coming down from leaping out of the portal. Vakali was decapitated before she could even turn around.

More Kabalites of the Bloody Thorns poured out of the portal every single second as Belthian pointed at the now seething Selia, "You're fortress belongs to us now bitch."

Selia screamed in anger and roared for her Kabal to repel Belthian and in an instant, the dining hall was alive with screaming and the sleek sound of splinter fire and the heavy thuds of darklight bursts.

The Haemonculus was already in the process of cutting down the guards by the east doorway with his twin demi-klaives and he flung himself out of the dining hall as fast as his appendages could carry him.

Annath could only rely on her speed and random armor plating on her shoulders and legs to deflect any splinter fire that might come her way. She flung herself across tables and chairs to follow the Haemonculus out the side door where he had gone out, his appendages granting him more movement speed across the ground.

He had gotten a good head start on her but it didn't matter to her, today she would follow him to the depths of hell and back to retrieve what was hers. She would not be denied to today-not by the pain doctor, either Archon, or either Kabal for that matter.

She somersaulted through the side door of the banquet hall just as a hail of splinter fire passed behind her across the hall. She saw Vasili stop and turn around turn around to look back and he snarled with narrowed eyes at her before his appendages dropped down and lowered him nearly to the floor. The appendages then began moving much quickly like a spider as they moved the Haemonculus across the floor.

"I'm coming for you wretched MONGREL!" she screamed, roaring a cry of a hunt and flying after him.

* * *

As soon as the firefight had begun within the dining hall, the slave had followed his master's orders to the letter and got down on the ground. Like his master had said, the combatants were too busy fighting each other to notice a small slave sneaking out one of the side doors.

The slave clutched at the pain in his stomach as he hobbled about through the Kabal's hallways, desperately trying to outrun the sound of gunfire which was becoming increasingly louder. The hoops and hollers of combatants was becoming closer and he couldn't help but feel that he was running straight into the fray once more.

When his master had told him to swallow the strange glowing stone and its corresponding chain, he had done so tentatively and now that decision was coming back to bite him as his stomach had quickly discovered the stone to be indigestible and had resorted to contorting around it painfully-which didn't help the slave at all.

He moaned and whimpered as he struggled against the walls, sometimes the pain would be slight and other instances it would be as if he was run through with a poison tipped blade. Nevertheless, if he could just get back to his master's laboratory, maybe the master would already be there and he could cut it out of him.

Turning a corner he found himself hobbling down a hallway next to window panels showing the menacing skyline of High Commorragh. A multitude of aircraft were duking it out outside of the Kabal fortress and the occasional lightning flash illuminated what looked like giant swarms of insects flying around each other. The slave paid the air battle no heed as the pain was steadily increasing.

When he was about half way across the hallway, a sudden increase of light began to emerge under him and he looked down to see a sort of small octagon shaped object in the middle of the ground with a strange symbol on it. It was beginning to glow white and soon the light it generated was eclipsing it-the light was coming right at him.

Terrified of this new occurrence, the slave dove onto his stomach to the side of the object which caused an unbelievable surge of pain to shoot through his body. He cried out and lay on the ground, whimpering in fear and terrible pain.

The light generated by the rune soon began to take form of a large circle in the air that was only 2-D but still wide nonetheless, its size took up a good three-quarters of the room that made up the hallway. The circle began to flash in similarity to lightning and its outer edges began to move in a clockwise move like rippling waves. In a matter of moments, the webway portal had completed its formation.

Not a couple of seconds later, the Dark Eldar of the Kabal of the Bloody Thorns began jumping out of the portal from its literal front and back, oblivious to the fact that a slave was lying beneath the portal itself.

"Invaders! Slaughter them all!" called a voice from the end of the hall.

The Bloody Thorns had been spotted emerging from the rogue webway portal by a group of wyches, who then relayed their position to other members of the Poisoned Sickle who were in or around the vicinity.

Not two minutes since the portals formation, the hallway was alive with rampant fighting with Bloody Thorns emerging from the portal at a constant rate and more members of the Poisoned Sickle entering from in front and behind the portal. Still no one noticed the slave that was near death lying beneath the portal.

The rogue webway portal's energies that at first had been circling the portal itself like fish in a bowl suddenly broke formation and slowly seeped through the air with articulate precision down toward the broken form of the slave. Tendrils like tentacles of some lower alien species sprouted from the portal and in turn split into more tendrils themselves as they seeped down through the air.

No one noticed as the fighting continued all around. Splinters and darklights flew this way and that-vaporizing, obliterating, ravaging. No one seemed to notice the unusual event that was taking place.

The webway tendrils finally reached the slave's body and began to flow over it like they had sentience of their own. The tendrils wrapped and flowed across the body slowly at first, almost prodding the body like it was some sort of specimen. The slave simply shook in fear in pain and did not want to get up.

Twin white lights flashed from within the webway portal and to the dark eldar that had caught a glimpse of it...it looked awfully lot like a pair of ominous eyes peering out from the portal, the webway energies flowing off the floating eyes like a being of immense power.

The slave's eyes were suddenly wrenched open.

The consciousness that had been the slave was rather forcefully shoved aside by an awesome...new...entity. Suddenly, the slave's mind was overridden completely.

The tendrils that had sprouted from the edge of the portal began to move much quicker along the slave's body as it miraculously began to move. Said tendrils moved back and forth along every inch of the body at such speed that it was almost impossible to see the body of the slave below the fast-moving webway tendrils.

Inside the slaves body, a miracle was underway.

Bones began to reform as simultaneously, ligaments and muscles were repaired and aligned as if a years worth of medical care had been applied in a mere nano-second. Fractures and cracks within the body's structure were slammed together and seemingly bound as if they had never been there in the first place. Internal organs that had been removed suddenly grew from a tiny cell into their fully matured forms. The ones that were still there and functional stopped seeping blood and their tears sealed over.

While the body was quickly repairing itself inside, the outside picture was beginning to take form as the slave somehow got into his hands and knees with no trouble at all. His face however was still obscured by the fast-moving webway tendrils that covered his body.

The tendrils moved back along his legs and feet to seemingly pull the injured and flayed skin away into nothingness. Underneath the injured skin revealed an extraordinary sight-the same dark tan skin and black hair that was supposed to occupy his legs in the first place. His toes were straightened as their internal bones were repaired instantly and the nails clipped to an appropriate length.

The webway did not stop there as the tendrils moved up his body, revealing more and more natural skin and hair along his well muscled calves, thighs, quads, buttocks, and torso. The bleeding sight between his legs seemingly disappeared and his genitals were repaired with careful precision as well.

The slave put one hand down onto the floor as the webway moved along his upper body and arms. Once again, bones and muscles were righted and straightened to their natural form on the inside and on the outside, the webway peeled back to reveal a well toned abdominal region and large, calloused hands with proportionally muscled biceps.

The slave's eyes began to glow a bright blue as what looked like static electricity began sparking and flowing off his body. These sparks snapped and appeared all over the slave's body even as the webway peeled back to reveal newly formed and health skin on his chest and pectorals.

He reached up and placed his newly rebuilt hands flat on the ground and lifted one leg up to plant it down on the ground as his body flashed like lightning, an aura of blue swirling energies similar to that of the now retreating webway now outline his body as he began to stand up. The orbs in the webway flashed once more and disappeared as the portal grew smaller on a focal point and closed in on itself rather quickly.

Leaving a virtually new human with glowing blue eyes and surrounded by aura of warp energy standing in its place.

A wych saw him out of the corner of her eye from directly in front and recognized him as a target. Her blood filled eyes were eager to spill any blood at that moment-whether it be the opposing Kabal that had invaded her Archon's fortress or any slave that happened to get in the way. She drew one knife in her left hand while allowing the blades to fully extend on her punch gauntlet on the opposite arm.

She screeched a battle-cry and ran at the human head on with blinding speed. In a matter of seconds, she had leaped and was preparing to decapitate the slave when she stopped in mid-air. In another few seconds, her blood lust had been erased and replaced with a horror creeping up her spine as fear seeped into her mind.

The wych had literally been halted mid jump and had lost all ability to move save for her eyeballs and she could see that every other eldar in the hallway was experiencing the same thing. Death blows had been halted, forms had been paused, and opponents had been stopped whereas moments ago they had prepared to cross blades.

Her eyes turned back to the human below her and the horror reached new levels when she found herself looking straight into his glowing blue eyes and a single raised left hand which had a similar glow about it. Those eyes...that glow...she had seen it before...there was no mistaking...it couldn't be...

Psyker.

She wanted to scream in anger, fear, and frustration, but her mouth and vocal cords simply did not move. Her eyes looked back at the human and she watched in horror as the glow around his hand began to pulse faster and faster even as no one but him could move in the hallway.

His expressionless face was the last thing she ever saw.

The pulsing on the human's hand reached an apex before the walls on the left side of the hallway blew outward, revealing the Commorraghan skyline. The pulsing aura suddenly and violently exploded into a growing blue energy sphere that quickly expanded in size to encompass the hallway and beyond, overlapping every Eldar held in place.

Disintegrating them all to nothingness in a matter of seconds, including the webway portal behind the human.

And then, the only sound came from the rough wind blowing in from the open sky.

The entity retracted his glowing hand and did not take notice to the amount of death he had personally let loose upon this small section of the fortress in a matter of seconds. His face betrayed no expression as his eyes scanned the corridors for any new enemies. There was sounds of gunfire from distant sections of the fortress but they were still a long way off.

Suddenly, his mouth scrunched and his face formed a pained expression as he got down on all fours. He convulsed and began grunting like a sick animal as his eyes bulged with pain. The human opened his mouth and began to cough and cough before the contents of his stomach poured out of his mouth onto the ground-blood, fluids...and a glowing blue orb attached to a chain.

The entity within the human recovered instantly and wiped the blood away from his mouth while grabbing the warm orb and its small chain in his hand. He rose to his feet.

The entity slowly looked around, noticing the menacing looking walls and arches that dominated the Kabal fortress' interior. He paid them no attention, they did not scare him in slightest, in fact at that very moment, nothing in the entire galaxy could have scared him. He looked forward down the hall, sensing that the female Craftworld Eldar was in trouble.

His mouth formed a smile.

* * *

Despite the extra appendages generated by Vasili's appendages, they simply could not produce the amount of energy that was being produced in the muscles of the furious female that was chasing him, after something that he did not have in his possession...technically.

Vasili snarled and his appendages carried him onto the sides of the walls and onto the ceilings as he struggled to evade Annath. He took turns and corners whenever they appeared to him and did his best to avoid the sounds of gunfire which now appeared to be coming from everywhere. His destination was the lower hangars where the Venoms and Raiders were kept. It was a long shot, but if he could get there, he had a good chance of meeting his slave, whom he trusted to remain low enough to not attract attention.

He scoffed in annoyance as splinters from Annath's pistol flew into his backside but were intercepted by his more heavily armored backside and extra appendages, nevertheless he still felt the stinging pain in some areas.

He went through a transitional archway that connected two very long hallways to each other which was surprisingly devoid of any fighting. On the right side he could clearly see the broad skyline of High Commorragh.

He stopped.

Something was wrong.

That inhibition was proven correct when the wall just in front of him to the left exploded outward and Annath the Craftworlder turned Hexatrix turned back to Craftworlder leaped out of the destroyed wall. The shrapnel from the exploded well sliced across Vasili's face and he shouted at the surprise as Annath cleared the dust and smoke and walked towards her.

She was not unscathed, as she was bleeding from cuts on her scalp and multiple wounds on her unarmored thighs and stomach, but Vasili could see the deranged Eldar inside her was intent on only one goal-his giving up the position of her coveted spirit stone.

"You're mine pain doctor. Give me what is mine and I will promise nothing more than a quick death for you." she said, drawing twin long knives.

"If you thought that I would just give up what I rightfully stole than you clearly are on par with the lesser races in terms of intelligence." Vasili hissed and rose up to his full height to appeal to the intimidation factor, "But it is good that I didn't underestimate you, you Craftworlders sure know how to hold grudges and keep them child of Ulthwé."

He drew his demi-klaives from their hiding places on his body and spread them out wide to show what Annath would have to go through.

"Unfortunately for you my dear...all your work has been for nothing." Vasili said.

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Annath screamed and flew at Vasili, who met her head on. Their respect klaives and knifes sparked as metal met metal with lethal accuracy and precision.

Annath danced around Vasili as she was far faster and went for the sources of his appendages, kicking herself off the walls and slicing through two appendages before Vasili began to cement his ground.

"How stupid you are little girl, to think that I am as unintelligent as you think I am." Vasili grunted as he struggled to meet Annath's assault. While he had the advantage in terms of arms to give, Annath still held the advantage in speed.

Annath did not answer but continued through strikes and stab-she was in no mood to be swayed by Vasili's inter-battle talk.

"If you will not listen, then there is no harm in informing you!" Vasili roared as he spun quickly three-hundred and sixty degrees in a blinding movement and whipped his razor-sharp appendages across Annath's front side.

She cried out as the appendages cut into her stomach and chest and flung her down the hall-she had underestimated the power of the Haemonculus' extra limbs. However, she would not be defeated so easily as the pain only fueled her ambition and determination to subdue the pain doctor.

"My slave has your coveted stone my dear...and you will never find him in this maelstrom." he said coolly.

Even if she did not admit it, Vasili grinned when he saw her flinch for a moment before she ran at him again-her face dripping with blood along with her arms, legs, and chest. He knew a weakening animal when he saw it because this was his specialty, and this gave him a thrill unlike any he had ever experienced before-especially because the Craftworlder and her spirit stone were both within his grasp.

Vasili flew forward with unprecedented speed, stabbing and poking with his klaives and appendages to force Annath on the defensive. Soon he began to see the weakness in her eyes and all to familiar signs of underestimation in her movements. She had thought him to be no more than easy pickings for her knives.

She had judged wrong, the haemonculus was more than capable of defending himself.

"How does it feel little girl!?" he laughed, "Can you feel your soul slipping into my grasp? Can you? You're doomed I tell you! Doomed!" he said and slapped ground with his appendages, creating a shock wave that threw Annath back but did not knock her off her feet.

"I have held this position long before Selia decided to have you join her party. But it was I who willed you to live my dear. Shall I send your soul in a tormentor back to your Craftworld? Detailing all of your cowardly actions all in a little pain box? I laugh at the humility it will bring your already tainted bloodline!" he cried and flew forward again.

Annath gritted her teeth as she tried to hold up her defense, but Vasili kept coming and coming. There was not a single chance for her anymore to go on the offensive as Vasili was utilizing his remaining appendages to keep her in front of him. She couldn't believe that after all her planning and everything she had done...she was losing.

She was losing her mentality.

She could feel her grip on her weapons loosening and the all too familiar sign of doubt creep into her mind. Contradicting thoughts crossed over her mind and made her slower-all to the advantage of Vasili.

"You. Are. Nothing." he said.

He reared back the flat side of a klaive and finally smacked her aside and into the wall to the left with brute force. Annath screamed in pain and for a moment she regretted not using combat drugs. This thought was quickly overridden when Vasili raised two appendages and their claws suddenly detached from their arms and flew forward like rockets and bolted themselves threw her lower arms and practically crucified her against the wall.

"So...its come to this...my dear Annath." Vasili gasped, showing signs that he too had been exhausted by the fight, "Can you hear the call of She Who Thirsts my dear? The call that all Eldar feel and fear in their hearts? While she may find you particularly enticing, I have far better fate for you in mind."

Annath whimpered and her eyes began to fill with tears as the personality that she had worked so hard to build up in this Kabal was disintegrating before Vasili's eyes.

"You are weak. You underestimate your opponents. You are fragile, and you are young. These are the primary weaknesses I have exploited all in the matter of half a cycle you laughable excuse for a warrior." Vasili snarled.

Annath opened her bloodshot eyes.

"But...I will grant you a warrior's death...that much I will give you for all the trouble you have caused me." Vasili said, spreading his arms and looking from side to side to indicate the distant sounds of splinter fire and cries of battle.

"...and I will give you a slave's afterlife." he said as he reared back.

The Haemonculus raised one of his spider-like appendages in preparation for the killing blow.

He laughed, "Goodbye my darling, I will take good care of your soul for you."

Annath looked at him with pleading eyes, she could almost hear the laughter of She Who Thirsts in her head, singing to her about her doom and soon to be eternal torment in her domain. Her vision was unfocused and she was unsure if she actually dead or not. The choir of voices in her head mimicked those from her past-former battle maidens, wyches, friends, her mother and father...

The sounds of the battle between the opposing Kabals was becoming less and less important with each passing nano-second and an increasing sense of fear and dread was beginning to tighten its grip on her spine. Where was Annath the proud Banshee of Ulthwé that had been virtually fearless under the command of Exarch Asia of the Shrine of the Singing Execution? Where was that battle maiden? Where was her war-mask?

If only her fellow Craftworlders could see her now, bloodied and defeated at the hands of this pain doctor. Perhaps their words may have given her some sort of comfort but then again they might not if they had learned of what she had been doing for the past forty-three solar cycles. Who was she to question their judgment.

Surprisingly enough, she felt her heart beginning to glow warmer and in her pain and fear...she did not welcome this feeling. Was this it? Was this the end of her long ordeal? To die at the hands of this monster and have her soul tortured for the rest of eternity? She clutched her clutched the fake spirit stone, closed her eyes and whispered a prayer to Isha as She Who Thirsts laughed even louder.

The Haemonculus raised his hand...

...but could not bring it down.

After a few seconds, Annath realized nothing had happened and opened her eyes.

The Haemonculus looked like he was having a fit of some sort. His limbs were twitching and the extra appendages that lifted him off the ground were shaking rather violently. His dark eyes grew wide and narrowed rapidly and spittle was beginning to leak from his mouth.

Suddenly, the Heamonculus was lifted off the ground all together-appendages in all. Annath watched in painful amazement as his body simply turned to the west, sideways to her. She looked to the side and saw what looked like heat waves like what the ones one sees in a desert extending towards the Haemonculus and enveloping his entire body. Annath leaned forward to look down the hall to the left at the sound of bare footsteps on the cold hard ground.

What she saw nearly struck her dead right then and there.

The human boy she had thought was dead was calmly walking towards them, as naked as the day he was born, except this was a very different human. His skin was no longer peeled back and bleeding and his body wracked with scars and bruises, instead it was its natural dark tan color. He was not hunched over and hobbling like he used to around the palace, he walked tall and looking surprisingly dominant. His face was not hideously beaten and scrunched like it had once been, but rather completely formed and free of any sort of injury.

He was perfectly healed and more. There was not a hint of injury on him.

It was horrifyingly shocking to note that his disgusting facial hair was gone and the brown color of his eyes were replaced with a light blue hue that could be seen from far away. His muscles looked far more potent than they had ever been. He didn't seem to care that his feet were touching the freezing ground as the emotionless expression on his face told Annath everything...This...was not the ordinary human she had known as a tortured slave not a few cycles ago.

The images of this human now and the beaten slave she had seen not an hour or so ago flashed in her mind, she was completely clueless on how to but them together or how one had seemingly become the other in that period.

A different kind of fear seized her heart in its iron grip.

_How is this possible? _Her mind screeched.

The human had a single arm raised outward towards the Haemonculus as he stopped not a couple of feet away from the pain doctor.

Nothing happened for a couple of moments as Annath was too shocked and amazed to even utter a word. She just clutched her spirit stone and watched as the human motioned his hand backwards and the Haemonculus seemed to literally float towards the human. She saw him look towards her and then back at the Haemonculus.

_What is this human? _Her mind screamed at her to find the answer. He was now a physically fit human who showed nothing of the personality she had encountered when she had first met him on his homeworld. The human was emotionless...stronger...and even more terrifyingly true...

A psyker.

One she had never seen with this type of power before. She had served under many farseers of Ulthwé, and some of them had demonstrated similar capabilities to this human. She had slain human psykers and those possessed by the Ruinous powers, but none of them were as calm and calculated as this one, they had all appeared insane and erratic in battle.

This human, was not one of them.

The human began to circle the haemonculus with his hand still outstretched towards him, which somehow allowed the haemonculus to turn involuntarily to face the human . Spittle dripped from his grill and his eyes bulged with pain never experienced. The human stopped walking in a circle after a couple of moments and stood just a foot away from Annath who was not sitting against the wall facing the haemonculus.

Suddenly, he closed his fist.

The haemonculus screeched in pain and Annath was horrified to hear bone after bone begin to snap. Blood jetted from open wounds and the extra appendages cracked and turned inward. The haemonculus' real arms broke violently and twisted in ways that shouldn't have even been possible but they did. He kept on screeching until his neck finally snapped.

The human turned his fist right side up.

The unrecognizable mess that had been Vasili then began crunching itself inward as if some larger force was compacting it into a smaller size. The mass of bone and gore twisted and smashed inward into it was about a couple of feet in diameter.

He lowered his fist.

The floating bag of gore suddenly and violently exploded outward, flinging disgusting debris everywhere. Annath closed her eyes but when she did not feel anything hit her, she opened her eyes again. What looked like a glowing blue field of warp energy had appeared from nowhere in front of the human but between himself and the mess that had been the haemonculus. Since Annath had been propped up against the wall somewhat behind the human, she was unharmed.

The human had blocked the debris from hitting her, and the warp field dissipated.

She did nothing else but clutch her wounds and look up at the back of the human while shaking with fear.

His heels began to turn with his head and his body ominously turned to face her. He took a couple of steps until his slight shadow overlapped her.

The human loomed over her as Annath's fear increased ten fold, the cackling lightning in his eyes spelled her doom in warp fire. She did not have her long gone war mask to block out the fear as she once did. All she had left was her spirit stone that lay on her chest, which the human would inevitably burst for her crimes against him and then She Who Thirst would-

The barbed hooks that had rooted her to the wall suddenly disintegrated as if exposed to an all-consuming fire. She fell to the ground and wailed at the pain as tears flowed from her eyes and down her cheeks. Her right hand shakily came to her spirit stone and she clutched it before slowly looking up at the human with defeated eyes, nothing she could have done could prepare her to receive an eternity of punishment at the hands of the Great Enemy.

The human was smiling.

Moments became minutes and he did not raise a hand against her. He just stood there as the ethereal waves of the warp flowed about his skin, his eyes twinkled their unnatural blue color as he stared down at her.

She looked down and gasped with a combination of every emotion that was available to be felt.

In the human's hand that was extended towards her, was the bloodied but glowing orb that was..._her..._spirit stone, complete chain and symbol of Ulthwé. The human was extending it..._to her_...he was giving it back..._to her_...

Annath slowly reached up with her right hand, disregarding both the pain and the face of the human who was staring at her as she reached for her spirit stone. Her fingers were shaking as they touched his and for a moment she drew her hand slightly back at the feeling of his hands against her fingers. She looked up at his eyes and found that his expression had not changed, but his eyes still swirled and crackled blue with warp energy.

She looked back at his hand and reached forth with the final effort to grab her spirit stone and pull it out of hand. Annath let out gasps of pain and overwhelming happiness as she clutched her spirit stone to her bosom.

Suddenly he spoke to her with words that were as clear to her ears as any Eldar she had ever spoken to. Her eyes could not widen any further as his voice came through clear, focused, and crisp. The fact that his voice was repaired did not bother her, but that she understood what he said shook her to her core.

"We have long dreamt of this day...Eldar."

* * *

__I move through the extra-dimensional force unseen even by these lesser beings that call themselves Gods.__

__It is almost amusing to watch the transcendent creations of my children toil about either within the aether or this extra dimension on a wild chase. Hmph. Gods. As if they had any clue of their own mortality. They keep using that word...God...I do not think it means what they think it means.__

__Gods, there is no such thing. Only higher states of awareness. I push aside these thoughts. They are clouding my judgment.__

__I continue on my path.__

__I move through the extra-dimensional force that I helped build. Now it is dominated mainly by my first-born kin...the Eldar. How humorous to see how they believe they are the masters of it when their very master moves through it like lifeblood. How comical it is to see their last free "God" roaming about like he owns this dimension, laughing manically at the state of the galaxy.__

__His laughter irritates my senses, so I disregard this laughing "God".__

__I am on my way to the son of the human. He has toiled long enough in that place that some would dare call a city. My thoughts whisper to me to exterminate the hive and wipe it clean of its sodomy, but my waning power shall not be wasted in that endeavor.__

__My daughter is there as well. She is the reason the son of the human is there in the first place. The human despises her for what she has done to his son and I do not blame him, but he cannot possibly fathom the future without her by the side of his son. He grudgingly accepts the role of my daughter in his son's path.__

__I have seen this glorious future...I have seen...peace...and this future begins here...now...with the intervention of the human and I.__

__I arrive at my endpoint in the extra-dimension, a lackluster portal easy to pick out that has recently been created by these heathen children. My eyes wash over the broken and beaten form of the son of the human.__

__My eyes flash as I come to the step that I have both been eagerly waiting for and dreading. I immediately set about manipulating the extra-dimension to heal the human's uncountable wounds, its effects on human physiology amplified to unprecedented levels by my overriding manipulations. The process is quick.__

__To take control of another living being like this is an abhorrence to my doctrine, but I cannot make a mistake like this again, the future matters far too much.__

__With a transference of one dimension to the other, my essence flows into the human like a waterfall and pushes his consciousness. With great remorse, I mercilessly tear apart his memories. I wipe his mind clean of family...friends...acquaintances...this horrid experience for him in this hive...but leave the most vital things intact. I burn so many memories and thought processes that their screams and cries at deletion sear themselves into me.__

__Despite these horrendous acts that I am committing against a child of the human, it is more than necessary that the future be dictated but what I do here. It is because of this that long before I contacted the human, I knew what was to transpire here long before it actually played out.__

__That is why...__

__I have long dreamt of this day...human.__


	7. True Colors Lie

"Come with us daughter of the One...if you so desire to return to your home." the human said, Annath could have sworn he was on the verge of sneering the words that she was so bewildered and shocked to hear and understand.

Part of her mind was screeching in confusion as to how this was happening. The human boy that she had tried to sway away from planetary invasion and destruction and who had foolishly gotten himself captured by Vasili the Haemonculus was now completely reborn and had effortlessly annihilated said Haemonculus.

But...why?

The fact that she had been beaten savagely and in someways uncomfortably quickly by Vasili had installed a feeling in her that she had not felt in a long time...fear. She had felt the deathly call of She Who Thirsts beckoning for her soul. At the same time, Vasili had been on the verge of enslaving her to his will for the rest of eternity. Annath didn't know which fate was worse than the other, then again, who could she possibly have known?

And then...it faded.

She Who Thirsts had been stumped, confused as to why she had been denied a prize, but quickly disregarded it as the souls of the _druchii _began pouring into her domain, those that were unable to salvaged.

Annath the child of Ulthwé...aspect warrior of the shrine of the Singing Execution...traitor...hexatrix bloodbride...Kabal of the Poisoned Sickle...schemer...strategist...helpless at the hands of this...human that stood in front of her. These could describe all of her at any given moment but what was most curious was that the last description seemed to betray all common knowledge.

The human had not killed her, yet it was she who made him what he was now.

No...she was wrong...something had happened to him...something had occurred between the time the fighting had broken out in the banquet hall and just a few moments ago. He had been a mangled slave not twenty or thirty minutes ago and now...he was a human at the peak of physical perfection. How old was he? He had looked to be only fourteen perhaps fifteen summers old when she had first encountered him and while his youth was still evident, he had no doubt aged somewhat.

The air seemed to ripple like heat waves around the hands that were at his sides...the hands that had broken the Haemonculus and eviscerated him. Annath saw this and her eyes were already wide before she realized they were. Furthermore, she didn't realize that in her fear and broken mind, she was sucking on her spirit stone like a child sucking from the breast of its mother.

"Come with us daughter of the One...if you wish to live." he said.

With that, the human retracted the hand that was extended towards her and stood upright. Annath's spirit stone had fallen from her mouth and she was now staring at the human with the swirling blue eyes with a mixture of awe and fear.

"We see it in your eyes, we too desire to return to our origin. This can only be achieved through a mutual agreement between us, do you accept?" he asked.

Something told Annath that the human's words were not his own.

_Daemon._

The hideous and disgusting word flashed across her mind, the word was even more vile, evil, and eye-averting than a human. To be able to possess a mortal body and turn it against anyone it so chooses was one of the powers that Annath knew all too well the foul creatures of the warp could do. How did it get here? What did it want? Why was it offering her a chance to escape when her own chance had failed so miserably?

Why had it given her back her spirit stone?

Suddenly the human smiled, "You think us to be one of the polluted ones of the aether? How far has your intelligence fallen from grace daughter of the One? No...we have a far greater purpose ahead of us...as do you."

Annath could not form words even though her mouth was trying to.

_It had read her mind._

The sound of splinter fire and screams of battle were growing closer. The human...or whatever it was...its eyes never wavered from Annath's own.

"Choose quickly daughter of the Old One, the window is closing and when it does, you will never see your home again." the thing within the human said. Its fists were tightened and it seemed to be anxious to escape whereas Annath had all but lost hope of ever seeing Ulthwé again.

She was silent, still staring in complete shock and awe of what was happening before her eyes.

The entity had had enough, "So be it daughter of the One, die like the rest of you flawed creations." with that he turned swiftly on his heels and began to simply walk in the direction that he had been facing the first time and left her there lying against the wall.

She turned her head shakily to follow him as he walked down the corridor, not once turning his naked body to look back at her.

There was the sound of a wyches' war cry from a hallway that ran into the hallway where both Annath and the human were located via a T-intersection. Annath leaned forward at the sound to see the human turn his head without stopping to look at an oncoming wych. She was almost unrecognizable in her frenzied state brandishing twin long knives and covered in blood-whether it was her own or that of someone else, that fact was unknown.

"__Donkta shiva nocadales!__" the human snarled in a language Annath had never heard before. Its sophistication far outweighed the crude human language and sounded so much more elegant...yet it wasn't eldritch.

The human flung out his right hand without stopping his pace and a clear pulse wave seemed to emerge from his shimmering hand-engulfing the wych and disintegrating her into nothingness in a matter of a second. Annath couldn't see the wych, but once the battle cry had stopped, she knew what the entity within the human had done.

He lowered his hand and looked forward once more as he kept walking, muttering something in that same, unrecognizable language to himself.

Annath watched him continue to walk until he took a sharp left and continued walking down a connecting passageway. She could feel the concussive blasts as the entity within the human released warp waves again and again upon Bloody Thorns and Poisoned Sickles alike, not caring who was who, not that he...a human...would have cared.

She looked down and opened her hand that held her small glowing spirit stone, she had sucked off the blood, whose ever it was and now it looked as beautiful as the day it had been taken from her...the day she had both joined and been forced into service of the Kabal of the Poisoned Sickle.

She shuddered at the thought and groaned as the tears kept flowing from her eyes and the soft cries mumbled from her lips.

Everything had _not _got just as planned. In fact, it seemed that according to certain warp entity that now controlled the human she had doomed all those cycles ago...everything had gone just as planned.

What would happen to her if she just sat here...basking in the happiness of being reunited with her spirit stone. Damnation was the one word answer that covered her eyes, someone would find her and kill her...and finish what Vasili had wanted to do so long ago. All of her deeds, her works, her crimes had all culminated into this point...sitting against the wall, somewhat relieved while a entity of the warp that had claimed was not a daemon rampaged across the Kabal fortress.

She looked up.

__Come with us daughter of the One...if you so desire to return to your home.__

__Come with us daughter of the One...if you wish to live.__

__Choose quickly daughter of the One, the window is closing and when it does, you will never see your home again.__

The entity had offered her a chance to live?

At first she wondered if it truly was the human and not the entity that was speaking to her those words. No...they were too adamant and without hesitation, the human could not possibly have done that. The warp entity seemed to have a much better grip on the human's psychic prowess than a normal, hysterical human psyker did. She had seen it behind the human's eyes-in those swirling balls of warp fire...something was pulling the strings that controlled the human but it had done much more than that...it had literally evolved the human...if such a thing was possible.

Never before had she seen in her battles in raids human psykers like these and she had seen many of them...roaring, loud, insane bags of sometimes armored apes screaming litanies and changing like they were mad. Again, the entity within the human had calmed the unstable powers of the warp that so evidently flowed from the human.

Annath's eyes widened.

_Had he been touched by the warp this entire time? Untapped potential?_

The thought that a potential gateway for daemons had been walking among the fortress for the past cycles made her heart drop. She couldn't possibly have known...could she? It didn't matter now...the entity was out there in the fortress...

__We see it in your eyes, we too desire to return to our origin. This can only be achieved through a mutual agreement between us, do you accept?__

It was trying to escape with the body of the human...no..._through _the body of the human?

What purpose did that serve it?

What purpose did that serve _her_?

Words such as..._us_..._daughter_...and the_ One _stood out to her.

Did it have a plan in mind? To leave the Dark City? No one simply _escapes _the Dark City.

She opened her eyes and breathed out the pain in both her arms and abdomen, she looked down and saw the bleeding cuts on her stomach and the long scar there from when she and Vasili had first met. The sounds of the warp discharges from the entity within the human were becoming distant. Who knows where it was heading...if it even knew where it was going in the first place.

__Choose__...it had said.

Choose either to escape with it, or die.

In her blind, youthful energy, Annath chose to follow the entity. Not trusting its words, but finding some solace in them that escape might still be possible even when everything else had gone to hell.

Ulthwé...was out there somewhere, and following the entity that was now massacring the _druchii _left and right...might just get her there.

She thought she had run out of energy in her fight with the haemonculus, and did not want to trust her injured body to catch up the human. Annath thumbed one of the capsules on her waist and out popped a vial of dark purple liquid, the last vial of combat drug that she hadn't poisoned the rest of her squad with. As much as she hated using the vile liquid, it was now or never.

With one of her long fingernails, she took the cap off and lifted the vial above her mouth and let its contents spill into her mouth. Immediately her taste buds came alive with a disgusting yet pleasurable sensation that soon spread to the rest of her body in a matter of nano seconds. Nerves returned to live and her heart rate picked up to many times its normal beat. While junkies like Asarve would have completely lost their minds, Annath had tempered herself to resist the powerful urges the drug forced upon the user.

Rolling over onto the ground, she picked up her splinter pistol and picked one of her long knives and in the other hand she took one of Vasili's demi-klaives that he had dropped when he had been destroyed by the human. She then motioned her feet above her head and kicked herself elegantly onto her feet. Her sensitive ears twitched slightly at the sounds of battle inside and outside the fortress, listening for some sign of that odd language or concussive blasts from the human/entity's warp attacks.

_Thump...___cales___...___kadesh___...Thump...___wretch___._

Her head swiveled around to face the way the human/entity had gone and she took off running after him. The human/entity had gotten a good head start, but the invisible trail of massive indents in the walls and floors was easy enough for Annath to follow. Plus, there was no sign of bodies, blood, or broken weapons or armor anywhere.

The victims of the human/entity disintegrated into nothingness.

The combat drug flowed through her veins and calmed her fears.

She caught up to the human/entity in less than a minute, all her blood and added fuel pumping her muscles to near blurring speeds and flushing away the pain from the slashes and wounds that lacerated her body.

The human/entity was holding a familiar wych against the wall, the small but unmistakable form of Asarve was pinned against the right wall with the human holding out his hand to her-the same heat wave type psionic field extending from his hand and enveloping the helpless young wych.

She couldn't even speak but the human/entity was already doing that.

"Oh how your strength is equivalent to a strapling compared to us...all your strength and all your speed...turned to dust before us." The human/entity said and curled his hand so that his knuckles were facing Asarve. He grinned, "This hell...is now yours." and unraveled his fingers and the power waves suddenly flew at Asarve with blinding speed.

Asarve gave one last horrific screech before her body was pressed up against the wall at unbelievable pressures and quite literally, exploded against the wall. All that was left was a red splatter equivalent to what one would find when they slapped an insect against a wall.

The human/entity lowered his hand and ominously turned his head to face Annath, standing a couple of feet away.

"The prodigal daughter of the One has made her decision! Come to see us pave the way to the outside realm with nothing but a glance at these laughable excuses for creations." the human/entity said, spreading his arms as if to come to a grand conclusion.

Even as the floors and walls rocked with distant explosions and the air outside was filled with the screeching of aircraft and airborne warriors, Annath found the will to actually take her time in walking up to the human/entity. Testing the waters so to speak. If she had any faith or sense in what it had told her, it would not kill her.

"No, we will not kill you. We desire home as much as you do." the human/entity said and Annath bit back her anger at the violation of her mind, her hands griped her weapons more tightly and for the fleeting of an instant, her mind told her to kill the human/entity right then and there. She stopped walking when she was but a foot away from him. She was at least a full head and a half taller than him but she could feel the dull pressure of the warp surrounding this human/entity.

And it was unlike anything she had ever felt before. It was a power she had never stood close to or experienced in her entire life.

This one...was different.

"What are you...entity within the warp?" Annath whispered loud enough for the entity to hear.

It change its expression but replied, "The last of us...but you would have long forgotten us. Therefore we shall go by a more appropriate name...your salvation." he turned his head to the side and looked at her through the corner of his left eye, "...and you should treat us as such." and then grinned.

Annath's own words came back to haunt her and for the briefest of moments, her hands shivered.

The human/entity saw this and simply raised the back of his left hand to her. Annath's eyes snapped to him and she leaped backward, ready to defend herself but the human/entity did not extend his psychic hold onto her, rather, he was simply holding up his left and studying it like a curious specimen. Even so, as much as she hated to admit, she would not have lasted a moment under threat of this human/entity's power.

"Fascinating, the power of the aligned human." his eyes shifted to Annath, "Far above your poor power to add or detract."

He lowered it and nodded his head at her slightly, "The window of opportunity is closing fast daughter of the One. You know of a way out of this sodomized city, we see it in your eyes and in your mind. You will lead us to it, and pilot us away from here."

Annath had nothing to say, how it had known that the Bloody Thorns had brought a _Corsair_-class escort to the battle from the docks was beyond her but its firepower was needed now more than ever, as the local Kabals had joined the fight-all eager to join in on the prospect of blood shed. Even if Belthian's plan to take over the Poisoned Sickle was all but ensured, there was extra luggage to be dealt with.

The _Corsair-_class escort was the smallest starship that most Kabals had that was capable of traveling the Webway, while normally it would be more numerous and useful in the hands of smaller Kabals or mercenary groups, it seems that Belthian wanted to make as big of a show of the destruction and assimilation of his hated enemy as he possibly could.

"Why should I place my trust in you?" Annath said, holding her chin high and gripping her weapons tightly.

"Your trust is not needed, only your ability to do what must be done." the human/entity replied, "Now tell us where it is."

Annath narrowed her eyes and spoke, "It has breached the Kabal fortress wall on the northeast side, twenty-three levels below." She watched the human/entity's eyes close and his eyeball move behind them before they shot open once more.

"We will make it ours." he said and turned around to begin walking down the hallway once more. Annath followed him, sheathing her demi-klaive and knife and picking up a splinter rifle laying on the ground, it would be in her best interest if she didn't have to resort to close combat. Then again, with the human/entity in front of her, she might never have to.

"Follow us...if you wish to live." it said as it turned the corner. Annath, having no other alternative, was forced to conceded and she caught up to the human/entity, the splinter rifle high in her hands as she looked around for signs of any druchii. Now, they were all enemies.

The first warriors they came across was a random patrol of Kabalite warriors wearing the insignia of the Bloody Thorns. Annath didn't even have time to bring her rifle to bear when a pulse way emanating from the right hand of the human/entity enveloped and disintegrated them instantly.

"The weakness of what once was a proud creation humors me." the human/entity said, continuing to walk down a passageway. The Kabal fortress was mostly made up of these winding pathways and it was easy for someone as unintelligent as a slave to become lost in them, but not Annath and definitely not the powerful warp entity that she had fallen into following.

She was betraying all reason that her mind screamed at her but the most obvious facts had remained-it had given her back her coveted spirit stone, saved her life, asked her to join it in escaping and most of all-had not killed her.

_Yet_...her mind said.

They suddenly came to a stop when the human/entity had stopped walking and was looking down to his left at a wych propped up against the wall. The human/entity grinned and asked, "Friend of yours? See now the fate of all who follow and trust you." he laughed before continuing to walk.

Annath's eyes grew wide.

It was Odarias. Much loved Odarias. Her eyes were an abyss of white and there was massive amounts of foam coming from her mouth while blood secreted from her eyes and ears. She had fallen victim to the bio-toxin Annath had placed in every one of her squad's drug vials but her own. Odarias' veins all across her body were a dark green or purple color and her skin had literally fallen off her body in some places to the point where bone was visible.

It had been a slow and painful trip to the domain of She Who Thirsts.

Somewhere within Annath's mind, a barrier was broken.

They continued walking but in Annath's case she was far more cautious, training the splinter rifle in every direction despite the fact she had yet to use it. That knowledge banged at the wall of another barrier within her mind.

"You will not be needing such weapons daughter of the One. In fact, you can walk as calmly as needed." the human/entity said, his eyes switching to the left and to the right.

"Stay out of my head warp beast." Annath growled, not bothering to look at him.

"How can we when you broadcast yourself as much as a screaming child?" he cooed in a voice that was filled with sarcasm.

"Your presence here is a pestilence and within my mind it is a breach. You speak to me of salvation? I only see violation." Annath countered.

"Quite right." the human/entity said as they came to yet another intersection. Annath wrinkled her brow when she recognized the aesthetics and design of this particular intersection. This was the location she was supposed to meet-

"Annath!" said a voice down the passageway to her right.

_Valos_.

The human/entity's head snapped to the right and he whipped out his right hand and before Annath could protest, a pulse wave emerged from his hand and flew down the corridor. The wave engulfed the corridor completely and Valos had no chance.

Annath could not help but let out a shocked cry as the wave passed over his entire body but did not completely disintegrate him on impact like it had the rest of his victims. Valos stumbled back and looked down at his body.

The human/entity let out a sinister laugh and turned away from his latest victim. Annath looked on in horror.

Valos let out a blood-curling scream as his body began to slowly dissolve slowly, the pieces of his armor literally chipping away and disintegrating into the air. His entire body was coming apart from his legs up.

Annath's eyes grew wide and she struggled to keep her mouth closed while her fingers fumbled with the splinter rifle in her arms. Valos died very slowly and in the exact same manner as the victims of only one other enemy in the galaxy.

"__Histik gon'zek ractor Necrontyr? Ha!___" _the human/entity laughed and continued walking.

The Eldar stared at the place that Valos had been not a couple seconds earlier, her lips trembling and hands fumbling to get a grip on her rifle. The almost sarcastic singing of the human/entity in that odd language of his snapped her to focus. She gritted her teeth as she bit back the urge to act out of the ordinary and she told herself that Valos was only part of the plan.

__Not my plan___..._her mind told her.

She was helpless to protest the notion and shook her head to clear the gruesome image she had just seen from her head. No matter how hard she tried however, she could not release herself from Valos' scream. She turned around and begrudgingly followed the human/entity.

Another barrier was broken.

After traveling another set of passageways and intersections, in the midst of which the human/entity would once again disintegrate any druchii warriors that he came across. With each gruesome attack, with each scream of being sucked into the eternal torment of She Who Thirsts, Annath became increasingly volatile. Her mind was sure whether to be horrified or filled with rage. She was somehow stuck between Annath the aspect warrior and Annath the hexatrix bloodbride.

And she could not break free, causing yet another barrier to be broken.

They descended a diagonal flight of stairs to the twenty-fourth level, the one right above the section of the Kabal fortress where a Corsair escort had broken into the wall and disembarked its crew of warriors from the Bloody Thorns. So far, the Bloody Thorns' Razorwings and other skimmers were keeping the air forces of every other Kabal in check while other Corsairs raked the fortress from further below.

Surely, the Great Tyrant had not gone uninformed of this battle by now, the thought of which made Annath shudder.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Annath realized where they were.

The slave pins were alive with screams and shouts of various species. Most had heard the sounds of the battle and for those that thrived on battle, like the two giant ork brutes trying desperately to break down the bars, they _needed _to be in it. The sound was a cacophony of pain and anger, with hundreds of species lining the cages that extended as far as they eye could see in front of them.

"And then the One said..._Tel ether let gilite._" the human/entity said and his eyes flashed one with an ominous hum of blue warp power. He then began walking forward with Annath right behind him, her splinter rifle putting down any slaves or beasts that tried to reach out for her.

What happened next, chilled Annath's blood.

When the human/entity walked past them, the very walls and cages began to _disintegrate_. The metal that made up these cages and walls began to glow and then break apart into tiny embers as if it were wood burning, leaving their occupants completely free. As they passed them however, the human/entity's eyes would flash once, and the savage slaves and beasts would turn and run towards the stairs in the back of the corridor. If the beasts were already free from their disintegrating confinements in front of them, they would simply avoid the human/entity and the Eldar walking down the middle.

They finally came to the far end and then descended another flight of stairs in almost complete darkness to the twenty-third level from the original above them. Stopping at a large door in front of them, the human entity turned his head to look at her through the corner of his right eye. He said, "Stand back...and watch the power."

Annath had a dread feeling of what that meant.

The human/entity thrust out his hand and the metal door blew off its hinges as if a brute had burst through it. The door flew back into the hangar where the Corsair had breached the Kabal fortress wall and crushed a number of warriors and wyches in its path.

Annath took a step forward but remembered his words.

The Corsair was at the end of the hangar, having burst through it and was now hovering in position in there

Many pairs of eyes turned to the source of the blown door and when they saw a naked human standing where the entrance was, some turned and fired, while others resumed their battles-believing a human to be too less of a sport.

The ones that did fire watched in momentary shock as their toxic shards bounced off a glowing blue shield that emanated not a foot or so off the human's body. This only caused their wills to harden to overwhelm the human with superior firepower.

In response the human raised his right hand but did not fire off a pulse wave like the previous times he had. Instead, he held it out in front of him as the air around his arm began to almost flow to it. Like it was...

_Gathering energy...by Isha..._Annath's mind screamed in terror.

It was almost as if the human was drawing power from the warp from within the Webway. Energies of all colors flowed to the humans raised arm from out of nowhere as it began to shake and when the flow of energy stopped, he thrust his arm forward and realized the greatest pulse of all. This pulse did not fire backward on Annath but it made her nerves flare and what little hair on her body she had stand on end.

This pulse expanded more quickly than anything the human/entity had produced and quickly expanded to cover the entire hangar and then push out to envelop the Corsair hovering on the outside.

When it was finished, the human/entity lowered his hand and said, "Power overwhelming." and walked forward completely unhindered.

There was no longer any movement besides that of Annath and the human/entity as they moved to the Corsair, where its landing ramp was open from beneath the neck of the ship. There was the sound of shrieking missiles and splinter cannons from the air battle above but none seemed to be paying attention to the one of many Corsairs surrounding the Kabal fortress.

The Corsair was a completely flat starship along its horizon but had a swept forward dagger like wing on either side littered with guns and a rising tail at the back. Powerful darklight engines enabled the escort vessel to become one of the fastest starship's in the known galaxy.

The human/entity had destroyed its crew with but a glance.

He had killed them all with but a single thought.

Annath was trying to keep her mind composed as she swung the splinter rifle around to scan for anyone or anything that might have survived the pulse way, but the hangar was completely still. She could find nothing within her mind that would have banished her raging thoughts and emotions. Fear, pain, sadness, confusion...all of them struggling to gain a hold on the Eldar.

They reached the Corsair and immediately boarded it via its lowered ramp that swung down from the neck of the starship. At this point, a different kind of feeling made its way to the forefront of her mind, the feeling she had always been wanting to know again since the day she found herself in the Poisoned Sickle.

_I'm going home..._she thought and fearful excitement returned to her body. She moved past the human/entity and nearly pushed him into the wall with her eagerness to pilot the vessel. Because she was a forward scout for the Kabal, she had grown accustomed to piloting these vessels crewed by her own squad or just by herself.

__Ulthwé...I am coming home___..._her mind told her and she felt like the combat drug still flowing from her veins would not be needed anymore.

She nearly bounced off the walls and flew up the stairs to the cockpit of the Corsair and for a moment forgot about the powerful warp entity that was sharing the starship with her. Reaching the cockpit, she was glad to know that its layout was not too dissimilar from her own that was probably broken or destroyed somewhere by the Bloody Thorns. Two seats on either walls for menial tasks while the front belonged to the pilot.

Annath licked her lips and her eyes bulged with unprecedented excitement as she flung herself into the cockpit. Again, she forgot about almost everything that was going on around her until only two words remained.

_Home...Ulthwé...Home...Ulthwé._

Her hands flew across the control panel in front of her and the darklight engines responded in kind. In the meantime, she spun up the drives and inputted the necessary codes for a transition to the webway. All that remained was to break free of this engagement.

She began to laugh, so hard in fact that tears were falling from her eyes.

The Corsair lurched and pulled away from the breached hangar, concrete and metal falling away to the ground far below. It took a moment longer than Annath would have liked but the Corsair was quickly free of the fortress. It had been some time since she had felt the grip of a starship in her hands, and the Corsair was a light and careful vessel. It flowed through her hands just as easily as her knives had.

Annath angled the starship skyward but not completely so as to give something away. She began an ascent in a spiraling manner around the fortress and it was then that she activated the forward void lances under the nose of the ship. While one hand maneuvered the ship, the other turned the dial for the direction of the lances. When she had the lances turned to the left, she looked over to see hundreds if not thousands of warriors dueling in the open wounds of the fortress.

She could hardly believe her luck.

Her laughter soon became almost maniacal screaming as she pulled the triggers, unleashing the powerful and thick void lances and raked the northeast side of the fortress. Her sharp eyes occasionally saw the lances completely envelop and atomize random fighters who were completely defenseless against the Corsair's tough armor.

Annath continued with this mindless fun until she eventually reached the very top of the fortress and when she did, her sensors flashed warning runes of incoming contacts from directly in front of her. Three of them, and she recognized them immediately.

Voidraven bombers with the marks of the Poisoned Sickle on their wings.

"This is my time! MY TIME!" she screeched in ecstasy just as her console flashed a rune that the drives were ready to enter the Webway. She did not wait around for anything else to occur and nearly broke the console when she slammed her fist into the rune.

The wingtips of the Corsair glowed white for a moment and fed the energy into the air directly in front of the ship to open a portal into the greater Webway beyond Commorragh. While she could have gone for the many exit points on the edges of the city, doing so would have been much more difficult to avoid any unwanted pursuers.

The Corsair flew through the portal just as monoscythe missiles flew and hit the back of the portal. The negative feedback of the missiles on the extra-dimension caused them to explode and render no hits. The portal closed quickly thereafter and by the graces of the Gods, Annath the prodigal daughter of Ulthwé had escaped the Dark City.

She allowed herself a sigh of victory and laid back in the pilot's seat. The Corsair had been traveling aimlessly through the Webway and would only deviate to a select path within the extra-dimension when given the coordinates. Annath had always known the Ulthwé would never be in the same place she had last seen it, but its trajectory around the bleeding eye in the galaxy could be easily determined by someone like her.

Annath looked down and took a hold of her spirit stone, bringing it to her lips and kissing it as softly and caressed it like she would a lover. Right now, it meant everything to her. She Who Thirsts no longer sang in her ears.

She held the spirit stone up to her face so that she could get a good look at its mind-boggling beauty.

In the reflection, she saw a bi-pedal figure standing no more than a foot behind her, the eyes of the human/entity staring down at her ominously.

Annath was in the process of reaching around for her demi-klaive when all of a sudden she stopped, everything in her body stopped. Her fingers and arms would not move and a wave of fear simply washed away all the ecstasy she had felt no more than a couple seconds ago. Her body began to lift out of the pilot's seat against her will and turn around completely.

Then, she was violently slammed against the console but she could not cry out against the sharp pain in her lower back where she had impacted the dashboard. But her eyes were forced to look at the naked human/entity holding one hand shimmering with warp energy towards her and his opposite enclosed fist.

"Tell us daughter of the One...do you really think...your people will let go of your sins and crimes as easily as we made your escape?" the human/entity asked, a bemused expression growing on his face.

A horror like any other shattered the final barrier within Annath's mind.

"You did nothing to us...nothing to aid in your own endeavor." he said as he cocked his head and smirked, "It was all by a designer with far greater power than you can possibly imagine. Your entire existence belongs to your true father!"

Trapped within her own body, the horror raged throughout Annath's mind uncontrolled.

The human/entity's smirk grew into a grin, "Like we said before, your mind is open to us like a screaming child. All of your experiences...your knowledge, your memories...all of it lies before us on a silver platter."

__NO!__Annath's mind cried out.

"Oh yes daughter of the One...would you care to tell the human whose body we inhabit all that lies upon that platter?

__PLEASE! NO! I BEG YOU! __Annath cried out, the horror beginning to form the images of her past within her mind, and she could not close her eyes.

"Ahaha...prodigal daughter...it is a necessity that we see it for our own eyes...Annath...born to a bloodline tainted by your whore of a mother who drowns in self pity within your home's mourning halls. Your father...driven to the halls of his pitiful war god by betrayal...now lies in eternal torment in the belly of that bitch of the warp." the human/entity snarled.

Annath's internal screams grew louder.

"But it becomes even more interesting prodigal daughter...Annath...the jewel of Ulthwé...most beautiful of your home...driven to the halls of your pitiful war god by a childhood deemed less than ideal. The loss of parents to causes not your own played with your fragile mind."

The torment continued, "Your anger was misplaced, a laughable reason to become such a worthless warrior. Would you like to tell the human what happened that day Annath? The day that made this all possible?" the human/entity laughed.

Annath's screams turned to whimpers.

The human/entity cocked his head and clicked his tongue, "Oh...so disheartening...to hear the prodigal daughter of the One beg for her life...just like the day she decided to join her dark kin. Let us hear it...let us hear you beg for your life!" he said and and raised his hand and then brought it down so that Annath was raised completely into the air and then slammed onto the console again.

He raised his hand again and repeated the motion, all the while Annath could not cry out physically, but inside her screams and whimpers could be heard by the human/entity.

After a couple more motions, the human/entity released his grip on the female and let her sink to the floor with her back against the console. Blood leaked from her mouth and she was unable to move her body, her back long since broken. Tears fell from her eyes and soft cries mixed in with whimpers could be heard from her mouth.

The human/entity looked down at her, "But there is a light within you."

Annath did not hear him, the pain and forced reliving of her past had finally overwhelmed and broken her mind. She could do nothing but cry and feel pain.

"There has always been a light within you daughter of the One." he said and shook his head, "But you have refused to embrace it, so is the weakness of your entire race."

The human/entity raised his enclosed fist and opened it, allowed the object he had been holding in it to float off of his hand. A Webway rune he had picked up along the way during the escape.

"We have inputted the coordinates to your home daughter of the Old One. You may ask yourself later how this is all possible but really...why should you even ask that question after all that you have just experienced? " he asked, but received only Annath's crying and tears for an answer.

The Webway rune glowed bright with power an behind the human, the same identical portal that had opened many times within the fortress of the Poisoned sickle opened to reveal a shimmering grey cloud of tumultuous energy within.

"He will be on a journey just as you will be...find him again...when you are ready to embrace the light within you." he said as he stepped back towards the portal. The rune stayed where it was-hovering in the air.

"Until then..."

He began to move through it.

"Farewell."

When the human/entity finished moving through it, the portal closed quickly and the rune dropped, dribbled against the floor for a moment, and then dimmed before lying silent. The cockpit was still once more.

The the quieter sounds came from Annath's mouth as tears flowed down her cheeks. The louder screeches and screams came from her broken and violated mind.

* * *

On a planet far away from where the human/entity had just been, a portal opened and deposited him into a field covered in black ash. For a moment he dropped to one knee in the rough material before looking up and looking around.

The sky was light with the sun high in the sky above the clouds but the clouds themselves refused to allow much sunlight through and instead mulled about in the air as if they were distressed.

Everything around the human/entity was either in ash, level with the ground, or simply black. Not surprising for a world left defenseless against such a savage foe.

In the distance was a hill turned black with ash and he set that as his first destination. Before he started walking, he said, "Welcome home young one...welcome home."

With that, he began to walk across the land.

He felt the small consciousness of the boy in the corners of his body-completely oblivious to what was going on and so it should remain that way for a little while longer. There was still one last thing to do before he allowed the boy to return to what was rightfully his. The human turned away from the edge of the cliff that was overlooking the vast farming settlement and began his trek down the side of the devastated mountain. Long burned away by a vicious and terrible attack.

As he walked, he sifted through the remaining memories of the boy the entity had saved for this moment, he recognized important landmarks and even things as simplistic as field designations. In the distance to the northeast was what remained of the larger centralized settlement, a sort of gathering place or trading post for the locals to congregate.

He then purged those memories.

The entity smiled at the primitive thought. Humans...even in this day and age their simplicity was their crown jewel.

His feet began to bleed and blister from stepping on the ash and rugged remains of what left of the once nutrient rich soil. An agricultural world turned to dust and echoes and its entire population either eviscerated or given a fate worse than death. The entity stopped and lifted up his feet to stare at the blood and redness on the bottom.

"How interesting." he said.

It had been a long time since he had felt true pain.

He lowered his feet back down and continued walking.

Looking up into the sky, he noticed the bleak and dull colors that floated in the clouds that could be mistaken for future rain. The way they moved slowly across the sky and did not grow darker revealed that it was just apart of the every day nature of the atmosphere since that terrible day nearly five years ago. It was almost as if the planet itself had given up living when its population and very lifeblood had been brutalized.

Another flaw within the creations of his kin.

Cocking his head to the left, he could only see the flattened ash of former wheat and barley fields for as far as his human eyes could see. Where his eyes could not see however, his mind was aware, far more aware than any being in the galaxy. For the first time since beginning the long journey to this very moment, he laughed with a mortal voice.

The voice of a human.

He was never one to be arrogant or prideful, rather the words he chose were knowledgeable and articulate. There was a difference, but the fact that his children were drowning in each others blood made him direct his hate elsewhere. There would be another time for such emotions.

"You will meet him again soon...daughter of the One. He will be ready but the question is...will you?" he said, looking up into the sky.

Shaking his head, he trudged on. Hidden by the dense and gloomy clouds, the sun shone high above.

There were no corpses on the ground which affirmed to the entity a very terrible truth indeed. The price to pay for the chance to see a clear future was great and each time sacrifices were made, he wondered if they were at all adding up somewhere unseen, to be unloaded upon him at a moment of sudden weakness. Knowing now that such an event was possible, he noted it.

Five years...five long years since the human had last seen his home world. The first human had agreed with the entity that the complete destruction of most of the boy's memories was necessary for his survival and continued existence. For if he was to wake up with everything in mind...well...he might not even have a mind to begin with.

Again he looked inside the body and through the aether to gaze upon the human's somewhat comatose consciousness simply sitting there, clueless of its surroundings. If the entity could give it a name, the closest thing he could think of was a noble savage. That was what the combination of the human, himself, and the daughter of the One had made him into.

At the cost of everyone and almost everything he ever knew.

It had been a horrifying experience, deleting memories with his higher plane of existence. In a way it was almost like destroying souls-hearing their dying screams had shook him to his ethereal core, he hoped to never do it again. However, that future was unclear.

His eyes switched back to the physical plane and his legs came to a stop.

To the sides of him stood the remains of a long stone wall that like the clouds, could have been mistaken for ancient ruins, but the human's memories that the entity had cataloged suggested otherwise. For the entity, his time within the human's body was coming to a close and for the boy, his journey was about to being.

In front of him, as incredulous as it was, stood the almost completely untouched archway that was the cornerstone of the entire wall, the entrance to the estate on the other side. The entity looked to his upper left to see the remains of tall trees lining a path and a flattened structure at the top of the hill.

He looked back to the wooden gate in the middle of the archway.

A massive fluctuation in the aether.

He smiled and said out loud, "Good to see you've come human." he stepped forth on the broken rubble and ash and reached to push open the unhinged gate with his right hand. The gate practically snapped away at the power of the entity and fell backward into the ground in a cloud of dust and soot.

The entity walked forth, allowing the dust to collect on his naked skin but did not bother with cleaning it off of him. Through the dirty cloud he saw the outline of a figure standing no more than a couple feet away and when it cleared, he received a good view of the newcomer as he smiled.

It was another human yet this one was far different from the boy. This human was slightly hunched over and wore light robes of different shades of grey and black. A small rope held the robes close to his body around his waist and cast a shadow to cover his boots at the bottom of the robe. His head was covered from the bottom of his nose to the top by an elongated metallic helmet that occasionally crackled with aether energies.

While his left gloved hand was at his side but in his right he was holding a staff taller than him and topped off with the top crafted into the spread wings of a golden bird.

The human had arrived just as planned.

"Keep your disguise will you human? Are you sure he will not recognize you?" the entity said, the hint of a smile on his lips.

"It is you who should be asking yourself as to whether your not you have completed that latter question." the human said, shifting on his feet and cocking his helmeted head. His voice was gruff and almost hoarse but for taking the form of a radical human aether wielder, he seemed suspiciously calm.

"If you are so sure of yourself, then there is no need to answer." said the entity as he walked over the fallen wooden gate and came face to face with the human. As if the human could see through his helmet, he looked up from his hunched over form and stared blankly at the transcendent being inhabiting the body of a boy.

"I am. Let us walk." the human said, almost hobbling to turn around and using his staff like a walking stick.

Together, the two unlikely beings began walking up the gravel path to the destroyed home at the top.

"How does it feel to walk among mortals once more human?" the entity asked, almost living in the thrill of the moment. He spread his arms and took a deep breath of the dead air, "Though we walk through the shadow of the valley of death, we fear nothing. It has been eons since we have used the sense of touch...since we have felt."

"The body of the boy is a holy temple to the Emperor of Mankind. You may know humans, but you will never know what it means to _be _human." the human said as he lifted his staff and held it against the entity's stomach and stopping them both.

"It is not your toy." he continued before resuming his walk again.

The entity did not give an expression but continued walking, his feet becoming even more scraped and bloodied than before. As he came up behind the human, he asked, "Were you followed?"

"The four unclean ones are oblivious to the danger to their thrones. Your distraction within the Webway city drew their attention away." the human said, not looking back to speak to the entity.

"_Our _distraction? Is that so human? So resentful of the daughter of the Old One that you fail to realize that it is she who has shaped this very moment. Granted that we added ourselves to the conflict at its conclusion...No, no, no human...you give us far too much credit." the entity said, his eyes scanning the desolation of the landscape around them.

"Her actions were her own. She allowed a planet of _my _people to be slaughtered. She is a traitor to _her _people. A bloodthirsty bitch who knew exactly what her deeds would produce. Her actions were hers and hers alone. I do not care what future you claim to see with her in it. When this future arrives, she will not live to see it." the human said, huffing out the words through mortal lips.

At that point, the two of them reached the small stone steps that would have led into the front doorway of the grand house. They were still there, all be it covered in ash and beyond them, blackened wood and metal was all that was left at the boy's former home.

The entity's nose twitched at the lingering smell of the ash and he walked the stone steps to place himself inside of the destroyed home and the human followed him. Together the two of them walked over the brittle materials that lay covering the ground that had once been the floor. The boots of the human crushed what had not been downsized and the entity's feet became scrapped and torn.

"He will never forgive us for this. Deep down in the mind of his that once existed lingered a hidden anger. Even you must know this." the human said as he turned around, the ground cracking and creaking beneath his bare and bloodied feet.

"It is as you said human, he will never forgive _her _for what she has done. Why? Do you worry that he will discover us too soon?" the entity said, cocking his head back at the human, who was kneeling down and pushing aside the ash with the butt of his staff on the ground to look at what lay underneath.

"You sound pessimistic." the human said, looking up at the entity.

The entity exhaled through his nostrils and said, "They cannot be puppets human, there is too much at stake for us to simply push them down the path to the future. They must discover it for themselves. What use is a machine that obeys your hand like an obedient dog?"

"A machine is the ally of the human. He is not a dog, he is my son." the human replied, returning to his hunched position.

The entity rolled his eyes, "You can be more insightful human now that the time has come for the boy to take command of his own destiny. The time has come for _all _of us to take command of our own paths."

The human laughed, "I can see your children in you, do not tell me you wish to be one with them."

The entity's eyes snapped to his companion and he spoke in a cool voice, "They may be my children but unlike you they do not require a tipping point to push to pursue plans of their own. Do you not feel their plans at work human? That God growing among their dead and the Great Fool within the Webway is searching for something."

He stopped and stood up right, "But you never cared to notice did you?"

"And I should concern myself with the affairs of the Eldar because..." the human's voice trailed off.

"They almost always involve manipulating and toying with humanity in one way or the other. Pulling the strings of the extreme incompetence and arrogance you bestowed in them. You...and you alone."

The human whipped around and strode over to the entity and straightened his hunched back but still only came up to the entity's chin. He growled, "I gave _my _children a hope...a destiny after being the grime under the boot of the galaxy for millenia. Was it you that freed them the shackles of xeno slavers? That gave them new worlds to settle and call home? Was it you that crushed xenos built upon the prospect of evil? No...it was _I _that-"

"-allowed your empire to fall into the state that it is. Your favoritism among your..._sons_...is a mistake that we find laughable. You truly must have fallen a long way to succumb to the path of the idiot." the entity sneered.

The human snarled and the staff cackled with warp energy. It seemed for a moment that he would lash out but in that very moment he did not see the entity in command of his son's body, he saw the oblivious and unaware consciousness that lay within the corner of his own mind. This boy...his son...at the mercy of two beings that sought to save him.

They had done this to him.

The One was right.

It was not a question of if...but when he discovered the truth. The human could only hope that he would be ready when that terrible day emerged.

The human drew back his staff and hunched back over but not before saying, "Do what must be done and be gone. Your time is up."

The entity smiled and replied, "For now." he turned around, away from the human who was still watching him. He walked to the middle of the ground which could have been described as the middle of the once proud house.

Looking up into the sky, he sighed, "This will be the last time in a great time that I look at the beauty that was once my domain through mortal eyes...pitiful...that I find myself at the mercy of such an occurrence."

The human behind him was silent.

The possessed body turned around to face the human one last time and asked, "They are gone?"

"Nothing of them remains." the human responded, "Though there are three out there...waiting...for him to find them."

"And quite a day that will be when that happens." the entity said and turned back around. His performed one last scan of the scenery before he lifted his arms and said, "This journey is yours you, we cannot walk it for you and we cannot guide you at every turn. There are battles that you cannot hope to fight that we must take up. Nevertheless, do not fear...for their are powers far beyond your comprehension that watch over you."

He looked to his left, "The journey will rebuild that which has been stolen from you and in the process you will cover something entirely new for yourself...and for the galaxy as a whole." He looked to his right, "Discover what we have laid along the path for you so that you may survive the horrors along the way. Discover...what it means..."

"To be human." finished the human behind.

The entity sank to his knees and gathered himself for the final exit, "Go forth...Thomas...we await you."

With those final words, the One released all overriding commands to the human's body and pulled away into the extra-dimension, where he watched the next events to occur. A master of the dimension that he himself created, such an act was well within his control.

The human's eyes went skyward as if to watch his companion move away and he looked on as the entity released control of the body of his son and moved back into the Webway, a feat that could only be achieved by a being of transcendent power. He then looked down at the motionless and naked form of his son-completely healed and renewed.

_Lobotomized..._

"No." the human said, "Altered to allow him to progress, so as to walk the path to find the Emperor of Mankind."

_It is your turn human...show me that you are the father you claim to be..._

"All fathers care for their sons." he said, and he cried out in a loud voice, "Thomas! Come forth!" as he placed the butt of his staff into the ground.

...and Thomas did come forth from the depths of his own mind.

* * *

__Thomas...__

__...__

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__Thomas...__

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__Makeo...__

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__Makeo...__

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__Makeo...Thomas__

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__Thomas...Makeo__

__...__

_..._

_..._

__Human...__

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__Human...__

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__Son...__

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__Son...__

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__Brother...__

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__Brother...__

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__Friend...Brother__

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__Lover...__

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__Lover...__

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__Annat-__

__THOMAS TIBERIAN AURELIUS-JULCIAD MAKEO__

* * *

With a sharp intake of breath, the human boy's eyes opened and the shut quickly thereafter as the nerves all across his body returned to life. There was a deep soreness across his body that was not centralized in any particular muscle or body part, it felt as if he had been lying still for a very long period of time.

He groaned at the feeling and gathered the strength to roll over onto his back, squinting his eyes shut and hissing at the feeling. There was also a large stinging pain coming from the bottom of both his feet which caused him to grit his teeth even harder.

The boy lay that way for a couple moments before placing his hands flat on the ground and pushing himself up and into a sitting position, his face still squinted in an expression of pain and unwanted feeling. He wrapped his arms around his knees and lowered his head.

The air around him seemed muggy and humid and there was an odd scent in the air and as much as the scent was unusual, there was nothing else to be smelled.

He opened his eyes.

He found himself staring at the ground, now even darker with the shadow his body cast against it. Despite the soreness and protest of his body, he lifted his head and opened his hands to stare at his palms.

His hands were free of any injury, as was the rest of his body besides his feet.

The boy sat in this position for a couple moments as his body struggled to regain its composure. Inside his head however, a million words crossed the forefront of his mind every passing second.

"Hmmmphh..." he muttered and clicked his tongue within his mouth, he also rolled his neck a couple of times and sighed when the pressure on his skull was relieved a little bit. Not long after however, he returned to looking down at the grown, shifting a bit uncomfortably as the ground rubbed the wrong way against his groin.

What were these words going through his mind? There were so many...flying as fast and as minuscule as the very atoms that made up the air he breathed and he breath he exhaled. What were they?

There was the sound of something thumping the ground once directly in front of him. He opened his eyes and looked up.

There was a man standing hunched over with a long pole (with an oddly shaped top) in his right hand. Some sort of metallic case covered his head from the top of his skull down to just above his lips. A thin rope was wrapped around his waist and kept his long grey robes tight to his body. If he had eyes, he was probably looking down at the boy.

The boy stared back at him.

The words flowing about in his mind stopped moving. Everything that the boy was turned its attention to the strange figure standing no more than a couple feet away from him.

They remained like that for a couple minutes, neither of them moving or saying anything, the boy's eyes not even studying the curious looking man or analyzing him, just looking.

"What is your name?" the man asked after what seemed like an eternity of waiting.

The boy did not answer though he did blink at what the man said. The words within his mind came alive once more but something was different this time, they were moving about in an orderly fashion and appeared to be...making something.

"What is your name?" he asked again, shifting his weight from side to side.

The words were still forming and moving about.

"What do people call you?" the man asked, cocking his head to the right.

The boy's head began to shake a little bit, almost as if he was having a fit.

"The second gift you were given after birth...what is it? There are many like it but yours is unique so I will ask again for the fourth time...what...is your name?" the man said, sounding impatient but his body language betrayed that notion.

Spittle began to drip from the boy's mouth and he was breathing came in more rapid intakes.

"It cannot be hard. It was one of the first things you learned. It is in there in that skull of yours. Tell me...what...is it?" the man asked and pointed the butt of his staff at the boy.

The words were moving more quickly than ever. A line was forming. Pieces were coming into place. His brain tapped his nervous system. They boy's eyes bulged and he blinked a couple of times.

"Your na-"

"Homezzakeyo." the boy sputtered out and coughed. He brought his hand back across his mouth and wiped the spittle away, rubbing it against the skin on his bent leg. The man took note of this and looked back at the boy.

"Be clear of mind. Tell me your name again. You told me your name. Speak softly, and carry a heavy mind." the man said.

The boy's mouth opened and shut before he took a gulp of breath and exhaled, "Homes...akee...o."

"Mmhmm...yes...but that is not how your creators pronounced it. Use the chords within your throat and sing your name to the air. Let it carry your words across the wind."

The boy blinked and listed his head a bit to show his confusion and the man continued as he leaned forward into his hunch, "Tell me your name...the way...it is meant to told."

The younger boy opened his mouth to say something but the man held up a hand, "Hold. Think boy. Think long and hard. Form the words. Use the intelligence humanity has blessed you with. You are not a primitive. You are the human, the most intelligent creature to walk the plane of existence...but you are also stupid, your youth forms the fog of mind within your head. It swirls and plays with the words you so desperately wish to utter."

The boy blinked as the man continued, "Once you have cleared the fog of mind, find the device within your throat that allows you to speak...and use it...wisely of course...to tell me, what your name is."

"Thomas Tiberian Aurelius-Julciad Makeo." The boy said, not a hint struggle in his voice.

The man smiled and thought to himself..._It is him...he is there...I am impressed._

_So should you be, the human mind is to me as an canvas is to its artist..._

The man and the boy called Thomas stared at each other once more, as if the latter was waiting for the former to give him some sort of new command to challenge and overcome and quickly, his intuition was proven correct.

"Who are...Thomas Aurelius-Julciad Makeo?" The man asked.

The boy appeared to swallow his bile but the man new that he was simply getting a feel for his voice box. The knowledge was all there, he just needed to simply read it.

"Whu...Human." Thomas said, perfecting his tongue in the latter word.

"Why are you here...human?" the man asked, curious as to what the boy would answer with.

For the first time since his eyes first opened, the boy looked around. He could see the blackened and grey hills in the distance off to his right and when he looked to his left, he saw jagged stakes of burnt wood and steel protruding from the ground, no reference of their original shape remained. He looked up into the sky and saw its colors the epitome of bleakness and uncertainty.

If the boy was fazed by any of this, he did not show it.

"Do...not...know." he said, swallowing his bile for real this time.

"You forgot one letter...one word." the man said, lifting his right index finger.

This time the boy called Thomas truly was confused and did something that made the man that stood in front of him even more pleased with his departed companion. The boy narrowed his eyes.

"It is one of the few words in existence that exists as both a letter and a word...and the only describes one-self from one's point of view." the man said, pursing his lips for a moment.

The boy looked down again, his hands still wrapped around his knees. After a few minutes he looked up and said, "I...do...notknow...why...I-I...amhere."

"Would you like me to show you...Thomas?"

Thomas looked up.

_Intriguing..._

Then, he took the man by surprise, "Whatis...your...name?"

"My name is Virgil." the man called Virgil replied, nodding his head gently a couple of times.

"Why...areyou...are...you...here?" Thomas pressed.

Virgil answered quickly and knowledgeably, "I am here to show you why you are here." he then half walked, half hobbled over to the boy, who was still sitting on his bottom on the ground and knelt down at his feet and then said, "Ask my question Thomas."

"Why am I here?" Thomas asked almost the instant Virgil had finished speaking.

Virgil's lips curled into a smile, revealing two sets of perfectly white teeth. He stood up and turned around and then said, "If you wish to find out...put down your troubles and your questions...and follow me."

With that, Virgil turned to his right, and walked over to what was the entrance to the house and stepped out onto the stone steps. He turned around slightly to see Thomas still sitting on the ground staring at him, he didn't appear to be making an effort to follow him. Virgil simply sighed and walked down the steps and continuing along the path down the hill towards the ruined wall and gate at the bottom.

Thomas watched him go, but he soon disappeared below his field of vision.

He turned his head forward and asked out loud, "Why am I here?"

No one answered him, he could no longer hear Virgil's footsteps against the ground. Deep down he felt some sort of pull on his body, as if something was physically tugging at his heart to the point that the feel was unavoidable.

What was this feeling?

"Why am...I here?" he asked again. Still no answer. He turned his head to the direction he'd last seen Virgil before he disappeared down the hill and said, "Follow...you?"

Something within his mind...or was it his mind...told him to get up and he felt no barriers of intuition or second guesses to that command. Nothing hindered the command his brain told his body to rise to his feet.

He placed his hands flat on the ground and made his feet flat on the ground, hissing with pain as he did so because of the damage. He couldn't possibly have imagined who had inhabited his body not a couple of minutes earlier, and why his feet were bruised in the first place. His mind betrayed the strength of his body as his arms wobbled in an attempt to lift his body up.

The pain eventually reached a plateau and he spread his bent legs while placing his right hand on the ground and the other one up in the air to balance himself. He leaned back on his right arm for a moment before driving all his strength into it and pushing off the ground. At the same time, his legs rose out of their bent state and together, lifted their user to his full height.

It wasn't a perfect getup as he stumbled forth for a moment but he caught himself, the prospect of falling over again was not advantageous to him. When his muscles were once again working in conjunction with each other, he looked around. There was burnt wood, steel, and black ash all around him but his mind did not register or recognize anything.

He simply did not know.

His gaze shifted to the northeast, where he could see over the horizon now and gaze down the hill.

The shape of the man that had spoken to him was moving away, towards the entrance in the middle of the ruined wall.

"My name...is...Thomas...Makeo." Thomas said, turning his body to the direction the man had gone and walked forward, his eyes twitching and brow furrowing at the stinging pain below his feet.

"I will...follow you." he said as he stepped down the stones that led up to the entrance of the house. The man had passed over the broken down gate and had turned left to walk to the northwest, towards a larger collections of ruined and burnt ruins of buildings and settlements. Thomas however, was just coming down the hill.

Thomas walked with no hurry or haste to his step, but he was beginning to acknowledge that the pain in his feet was becoming increasingly unavoidable and he sometimes stepped using his toes or heels to avoid the pain for awhile.

"I will find...why I am...here." he said, taking a deep breath as if the effort to say that was the equivalent of running a mile.

It took him a little while longer to get down the hill and cross over the broken archway than the man had before him but when he was finally at the bottom, he looked to the northwest to see the man called Virgil trudging on in the direction of more ruins at least a mile away. Again, nothing told the human to stop once he turned his body and began to follow the man.

Virgil turned around and smiled once he saw Thomas following him in the distance behind him. For a moment he thought the One had returned to the boy just by the way he carried himself but the simple and blank expression he held on his face told him that it was by Thomas' own accord that he was following him. He nodded to himself, "Very good Thomas...very good."

He did not wait for Thomas and continued walking toward the burned ruins of the settlement. When he reached it he passed half destroyed and leveled buildings and silos. A pang of sadness radiated through his heart when he saw no bodies.

_She will pay...my son will make her pay...No matter what the One thinks..._

His boots crunched gravel and fragile wood as he made his way down the main street. Just like the One's, his time guiding Thomas was coming to a close for now, lest he draw the attention of his four enemies. They had spent centuries planning this very moment and as much as his own mind protested the thought of leaving Thomas alone to the horrors of the galaxy, he assured himself that the boy was indeed not alone.

They would watch over him.

When he reached the intersection located in the middle of the settlement, he turned and cocked his head to the side at the sound of commotion coming from one of the buildings to his right and nodded his head. Everything was coming to fruition. He then turned around to see Thomas coming down the street towards him.

Thomas reached him not a couple minutes later, the boy stared at him and then said, "I...have followed you."

Virgil sensed the resurgence of eagerness in Thomas' voice.

_It will take time, but he will come together..._

Virgil nodded, "So it would seem." he lifted his head and took a better grip on his staff as he said, "Thomas...this is not what I wanted for you, to have to leave you so soon after we meet, but I must-for your safety and my own."

Thomas stared on and something passed behind his eyes that only Virgil saw.

_Uncertainty..._

The man pursed his lips, "Do not feel fear boy, there will be others in this vast galaxy...others...who will show you why you are here. Not only will they show you, but you will show yourself why you exist. Some people can only tell themselves...while others show."

Thomas gulped.

Virgil reached forth with his free hand and placed it on Thomas' shoulder, smiling weakly with only his visible lips, "Don't worry, I will watch over you." he turned his body to the side and pointed his staff to a building on right located at the direct corner of the intersection, where it was clear that something or someone was inside.

Thomas blinked curiously.

"Go now, return to your people, and allow them to show you the way." Virgil said and pushed Thomas forward by his shoulder. The boy stumbled a bit and looked back at Virgil who simply nodded. Thomas looked back at the building and saw a dark form moving within behind the broken windows, sometimes it bent over, sometimes it stood up straight but did not turn around.

"Farewell."

Thomas turned around.

Virgil was gone.

Thomas turned his body to the side and his eyes went to the left and the right, but did not see Virgil anywhere. He had simply disappeared into the very air. He swallowed his bile again but the sound of things being shifted within the building to his right caught his attention.

Virgil had said to return to his people.

"Human." Thomas said, and walked over to the building, stepping up the sidewalk and moving to the entrance to the half-destroyed shop. When he looked in, he could see a fellow human.

This human was a woman, her long blonde hair tied up in a bun behind her head and a long black cloak covered her body as she overturned tables and kicked aside materials as if she was looking for something on the ground. Occasionally she grumbled something to herself but she was completely oblivious to the naked boy watching her from behind.

Thomas meanwhile was trying to find the word of greeting and when he did, he opened his mouth and said, "Hello."

The woman whipped around but in her fright, her ankles caught on one another and she fell, her arms flailing in the air as she cried out and broke a table in two when she fell back on it. She groaned in slight pain and pushed herself into a sitting position while rubbing her lower back.

"Hello." Thomas said again, blinking his eyes.

The woman opened her eyes and widened them even further when she saw the tan-skinned boy standing at the entrance to the building, not moving or showing any sort of action on his face. She stayed like that for a moment and swallowed with a hint of fear, her hands feeling around the ground for the auto pistol she dropped when she fell.

"My name is...Thomas. What...is...your name?" Thomas asked, angling his question to form a higher pitch at the end to show he truly wanted an answer.

It seemed to work, as the woman's hands stopped feeling for her gun and she allowed herself a deep breath. Slowly, her right hand moved to her ear and she said, "Gricus...come to my position...bring the servitor...and don't shoot him."

There was the sound of another voice coming from the woman's ear and this made Thomas finally curious. He cocked his head to the left and took a step toward her but she pointed at him, "Not a step closer boy. Not one."

Thomas stopped, stood still for a moment, and then took back the step he had taken.

The woman turned her head and found her auto pistol laying behind her. She quickly grabbed it and put it back in its holster on her right hip and rose to her feet, her eyes looking Thomas over and scanning him from head to toe.

Thomas asked, "What is your...name?"

The question caught the woman off guard and she opened her mouth to say something for a moment but then closed it. She looked at Thomas eyes, her blue eyes meeting his brown and tried to detect any sort of malicious intent in them.

She found none.

She sighed and finally spoke, "My name is Penelope...Penelope Vicar." her eyes went to his feet and rose until they met his eyes, "Who might you be?"

Thomas answered immediately, "My name is Thomas. Thomas...Makeo."

The woman called Penelope pursed her lips, this boy couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen years old and at the most nineteen. Questions flew through her mind one right after the other. Where had he come from? Why was he naked? Why did his voice sound so monotonic? Why were his eyes so empty? Why was he here?

"Thomas...that's a nice name. Yes, I am Penel-"

"Thank you." Thomas said suddenly.

"What?" Penelope asked, confused all of a sudden.

"You said...my name...was nice. I said...thank you." he said, almost out of breath by the time he finished.

"Oh..well...you're welcome." Penelope stammered and struggled to comprehend what was in front of her. She found the strength to continue their short but awkward conversation, "Thomas...can you tell me why you are naked?"

Thomas blinked rapidly before looking down at his body and then his arms and finally twisting to see what was behind him. When he turned back around, he said, "I do not...know."

"You don't know?" Penelope asked incredulously.

"I just...woke up." Thomas replied, pursing his lips because he felt uncomfortable about the answer he had given.

"Woke up from what? A nap? Sleep? Death?" Penelope almost laughed out the questions.

"I do not...know." Thomas said, his eye brows scrunched together.

Penelope's humor faded when she saw the most innocent look she'd ever seen on a human male appear on Thomas' face. She hadn't seen that face since she first met-

There was the sound of an auto pistol cocking and her head snapped to the right. There standing no more than a couple feet away was-

"Gricus!" Penelope said.

"Step away from my wife boy." her husband said coolly, his auto pistol's beam laser shining its cursor right between Thomas' eyes as he looked at the newcomer.

Penelope acted quickly and flew to her husband's side and put her arms on his firing arm, "No Gricus don't shoot him! He's just a boy!"

"That doesn't prove anything, he could be a perfectly trained assassin." he said, not taking his eyes off Thomas and struggling to get his firing arm up again but his wife would have none of it.

"No! He's completely harmless! Trust me Gricus! Please!" Penelope pleaded to the larger man. Gricus' eyes caught Penelope's and he could see the same beautiful yet pleading look he had fallen for all those years ago. He looked back at the boy who had turned to face them and saw a look of complete and utter blankness on his face.

He trusted Penelope more.

Gricus lowered his arm to his side but did not holster the pistol. He looked down at Penelope and asked, "So why aren't you going to let me shoot this naked freak?"

Penelope bit her lip and said hurriedly, "I think he's suffering from amnesia."

Gricus raised an eyebrow.

The woman said whole-heartedly, "I asked him some very simple questions and his only answer was...I don't know. Simple as the questions were...every human should have an answer to them right away."

Gricus brought Penelope over to his side and looked at Thomas, who was staring at them both, his eyes shifting between the two of them. The man lifted his chin and said, "Alright boy, what planet are on?"

"Planet?" asked Thomas. The word was there in his mind but nothing else remained and he was dumbfounded by this, looking down when he could not find the answer.

Gricus looked to Penelope and asked, "You sure he's not a stowaway perhaps? A survivor maybe?"

His wife shook her head, "The _Wings of Dynasty _is not that big of ship and I know almost everyone on it. There's no one as young as him on it. Survivor? No...he would have starved to death before the first-responders arrived after the attack. He's completely helpless Gricus, I don't even think he knows half of how to live!"

"What...planet...are we on?" Thomas asked suddenly.

Penelope looked at Thomas and cleared her throat, "We're on a planet called Yama Enda, Thomas...are you from this planet?"

Thomas blinked and replied, "I...do not know."

"Do you know how to speak _Endish_?" Gricus asked.

"I do not know." Thomas said, his face returning to one of worry.

Gricus turned and said to Penelope and said, "I don't think he's from this planet, probably some off-worlder who crashed here or whose been holding up since it happened."

Penelope nodded her agreement. She then asked, "Did you bring the servitor?"

Gricus nodded.

"Bring it in." she said and broke from Gricus' side to walk towards Thomas, who did not move.

"Thomas..." she said, "I think...you are suffering from a very severe case of amne...I think you've lost your memories...most of them I might add. You're completely naked and don't know the answer to some very specific questions...so my husband and I have come to that conclusion."

Thomas stared on blankly.

Penelope tapped her finger at him, "You see? That's the most obvious piece of evidence I have-you don't smile, you don't cry you don't..." her voice trailed off when she saw the corners of Thomas' lips curve upward. His eyes began to reflect more so in the slight sunlight and not a moment or so later, he started sniffling and twin tears fell from eyes.

"I...I...I..." Thomas said, struggling to form words from his gasps.

A wave of guilt passed over Penelope and immediately tried to salvage the situation, "Oh Thomas don't cry, it's alright." she bit back the urge to stay still and she leaned forward to envelope him in a hug, not caring one bit that he was naked. She patted his back and ran her hand down the back of his neck in the best attempt to sooth his mind.

Gricus came in a moment later with the servitor and raised an eyebrow. He said, "Am I interrupting something?"

The woman called Penelope detached herself from Thomas and walked over to the man-machine and pulled a long cloak off of one of its many arms or extra appendages. She returned flung it out and wrapped it around Thomas' shoulders and he in turn grabbed a hold of the ends and pulled them close to him.

"Wouldn't want you to catch a cold now would we dear?" she said, looking to Gricus.

The man walked up and shook his head, "No, of course not, we couldn't do that. You're just a boy with absolutely no clue as to what in the warp is going on around you. Someone...or something...has made a point of making your memories their target practice and the only things you retain are your ability to speak and comprehend Low Gothic...and your name."

He laughed and slapped a passive paw down on Thomas' left shoulder, "That's a good one boy, as a xenologist for the Ordo Xenos, I see a lot of things but this...this a first."

Penelope narrowed her eyes and slapped Gricus' shoulder, "Gricus for the Emperor's sake this boy is obviously telling the truth! Just look at him and his clueless expression!"

Thomas and Gricus met each other's eyes as the former sniffled a bit and they stared long and hard-Gricus trying to discern whether or not this was actually happening while Thomas was simply looked on, trying to stifle his tears.

The elder male sighed and looked at Penelope, "What are we going to do with him?"

Penelope looked even more shocked, "You're even asking that question? Really Gricus?"

Gricus raised an eyebrow and folding his arms, "Oh? You already have something in mind?"

"Yes, we're going to introduce him to the Inquisitor, and then we'll see if we can't get him working somewhere. Better him serving the Ordo than simply walking around until he starves to death." Penelope said, grabbing Thomas' arm and holding tightly.

"Food?" Thomas asked suddenly.

Penelope turned to Thomas and cocked her head so that her body leaned over to the side and got Thomas' attention. He then turned his head to her as she spoke, "You know what food is?"

"One...eats it. Feels satisfied...afterward."

Gricus put a hand on his forehead as Penelope grinned manically back at him and he sighed, "Alright so he hasn't been reduced to the intelligence level of a babe but the key thing to note here is that he knows certain things and he doesn't know other things...but what I find so interesting about all of this is that they are like hardened points in his memory, they don't fade in an out like a chronic victim. They're there...right there." he said, opening both of his palms to point at Thomas.

"Who is...they're?" asked Thomas.

"Your memories boy, both the ones you retain and the ones you have lost." Gricus said.

"Memories...lost..." Thomas echoed.

The man nodded, "Not just forgotten, utterly_erased_. You will never get them back."

"Gricus!" Penelope gasped.

"Its the hard truth Pen! Would you rather me feed it to him by hand? No! He's on the verge of becoming a man even if he has no idea what the hell's going on with him. The better he gets the truth now than later. Wouldn't you agree?" Gricus snapped and narrowed his eyes at his wife.

Penelope shrank back into her shoulders but did grab a hold of Thomas' left arm.

"Yes...I agree...but we are taking him with us. We're not just going to leave him here to die." Penelope said and moved to direct Thomas forward but accidentally stepped on one of his toes. He cried out as the pain returned ten fold to his feet and he stumbled forth. That was the first time that Gricus saw the blood on the floor where he had been standing.

"Throne boy what happened to your feet?" Gricus asked, bewildered.

Thomas said through a very pained voice, "I...do..."

"Not know Gricus, remember? Let's just get him out of here and back to the ship so Ortencia can look at him. We're done here anyway. Vox the rest of teams." she said and carefully guided Thomas outside and into the street and walking north.

Gricus pushed his fingers to his right ear. "This is Gricus...yes...wrap up all search and excavation teams when you're ready...yeah we found something or rather...someone...you guys aren't gonna believe this." he said, pressing the ear vox against his skin to hear more clearly. He motioned for the servitor, who had been standing still, to follow him out and they quickly caught up with Penelope and Thomas.

He shook his head, "This has just been an unusual day...I really need to lay off the evening rounds with the boys." he said as he ran a hand through his hair.

Penelope shot him a look, "Perhaps you should because unlike you, I see a young boy here in need of medical attention for the horrific state of his feet and a good meal. Both of which can be provided on the _Wings of Dynasty_.

Gricus held up a finger, "Say we bring him on board, what are we going to explain to the captain?"

The woman placed a hand on her forehead and took a deep breath, "I can hardly imagine why she would be so interested in the fact that we found a live boy walking around naked five years after this planet's sacking by xenos. If anyone, it would be Landa who would like to have a word with him."

"Who is...Landa?" asked Thomas, almost echoing the words through his pained voice.

The other man laughed, "Boy you must truly not be from this planet if you haven't figured that out by now. Anyway..." he turned back to Penelope, "Alright...we'll get him to Sister Ortencia first...and I will inform the captain. I agree with you, I don't think she would care too much...its Landa that I'm afraid of."

"You're not the only one my love." Penelope said as she tugged at Thomas arm and directed him down the street, "Its wise to fear the Inquisitor by I would not wish to be under any other than him. He is my first one and I would never in an eternity think of serving another."

Gricus raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

Penelope rolled her eyes and laughed, "Oh knock it off Gricus it was just a figure of speech. I'm sure Landa will just sit him down over a nice cup of tea. After all, what's he going to accuse him of? Heresy? Oh wait I forgot, the boy doesn't even know what heresy is."

"That's the part that worries me." Gricus replied sharply.

Penelope dismissed him with a wave of her hand and tugged more on Thomas' arm to lead him down the street straight in front of them.

"I...thank you...for...uh...helping." Thomas said, a little bit of emotion returning to his voice as he pulled the coat more tightly against his shoulders.

"Well I guess if there's any hope of you reclaiming whatever it is you have left, best to keep what's close to you...hmmm...well...close." Gricus chuckled, sighed, and continued walking.

Thomas took a couple of steps after him but hissed and groaned at the pain on his feet and he looked down to see the ground just beyond his feet red with his trickling blood.

Gricus' wife tugged once more on Thomas' arm, "Come on boy, the Aquila isn't far. You'll be in Sister Ortencia's care soon enough."

Thomas didn't know who this..._Sister Ortencia_...or how she seemed to be everybody's sisters, but it was clear to Penelope and Gricus that she would be able to help with his bleeding feet.

They walked for at least a couple more hundred yards through the ruins of this settlement before they reached the outskirts, which was in fact a side road on the border overlooking the downward slope of a hill to the east of the center of the settlement. There in ash covered fields below, were five aircraft with triangular shaped swept winds whose edges formed crude imitations of flying creatures.

"What are...those?" Thomas asked.

"Aquila landers, common transportation. I guess the more generic word to describe them is-"

"Aircraft." Thomas finished and immediately Penelope and Gricus looked at him, but the three did not stop walking.

"Yes." Gricus said, somewhat uneasy about how his question was answered by a boy suffering from sever amnesia.

Penelope on the other hand was in high spirits, "Don't worry Thomas, we'll get you cleaned up and into some nice clothes. You'll probably be asked to meet the Inquisitor but he's not a very intimidating man, he's actually quite kind to newcomers and I'm sure you'll get along fine."

"I'll be happier when we're off this Emperor-forsaken rock." Gricus grumbled.

"You need to stop worrying too! Kailiak isn't too far of a journey, I'm sure you can hold you're excitement of xeno artifacts until then. Alright my dear?" Penelope asked as they started down the hill.

Gricus rolled his eyes as they saw other teams converging on the Aquilas.

* * *

__There is little to no choice left-I must follow through with this hideous plan. The ruinous powers watch my every move with careful precision and look for any signs of resurgence. However, they will never discover what transpires between myself and the oldest living being in the galaxy. What is it? It is their doom.__

__They are faltering yet they do not know it.__

__We have different goals, the One and I...while he would be happy to see the cleaning of the warp...what he refers to as the aether...he has the destruction of a different foe in mind. A foe he himself fought long ago in a war that ravaged this galaxy and for the first time brought beings of untold power onto the battlefield. Mechanical horrors that had once been living creatures...fanatically giving up their lives to pursue the extermination of all others. At the same time, I continue to fight off the combined might of the four deities within the warp, hoping that someday, the day will come that I will have the power to destroy them all.__

__I am convinced that both outcomes are possible. Undoubtedly a slim future to hold onto, but the path remains open to that end result.__

__But many foes still roam the galaxy, thirsting for the blood of the innocent and the good. They cannot be allowed to achieve their heinous goals of galactic destruction. No...for as long as mankind leads the forces of good into and unto each day, the way remains clear to the future. It pains me to know that I had at first had such little hope left before the Old One made his presence known.__

__But then I saw you...I looked upon you...I gazed into your heart and I was astonished to see what lay in it...a pure heart...a clean heart...a heart that could not be corrupted even if it tried to be. He may erase and eviscerate what needed to be kept from you but we both know that the pure heart remains.__

__Now as your journey across the stars begins, do not tremble at your last breath should that moment come upon you.__

__For there shall be no such thing as a true death for you.__

__Not anymore.__


	8. The Price of Intelligence

Some part of Gricus was still unsure about the boy called Thomas as the Aquila lifted off from the ash covered ground of what had once been the thriving agri-world of Yama Enda. Penelope seemed unusually caring for him despite the fact that she had not once done anything like this ever before. Then again, it wasn't everyday that they came across amnesic naked boys walking around burned worlds.

Thomas however, was none the wiser, he in turn was staring at one of the members of the xenologist's security detail, Valentino Forman, a member of the Devil Dogs mercenary group that Inquisitor Landa had hired to protect his highly valued team when he was away. While Thomas may have been clueless, Valentino was in turn comfortable.

"You'd think he didn't have a soul with those damn eyes." The armsmen said, fingers drumming along his autorifle.

"Well he most certainly isn't repulsive, so that's out of the question." Penelope countered.

"The boy ain't got no brain, but he got meat on his bones." the leader of the Devil Dogs, Kalos Dartagan, laughed with two other armsmen next to him.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you...Thomas..." Gricus said and nodded at Kalos' autorifle, "What type of weapon is that?"

Thomas cocked his head at the weapon that lay in Kalos' hands and answered almost immediately, "Weap...on...Weapon...common...common..." he appeared to be struggling with the final word. Gricus raised his chin as if to urge him on.

"Auto..." he said.

"Gun." Thomas finished with a labored breath.

Valentino drummed his fingers a little more quickly this time and narrowed his eyebrows at Thomas before saying, "Yeah...amnesia my ass, kid knows everything. Hey kid, who is the big guy who sits on a throne made of gold?"

Thomas looked at him and opened his mouth slightly but blinked in confusion. He pursed his lips before saying, "I...do not...know."

Most heads in the Aquila's hold turned to him.

"Who is...this...big guy...who sits on a throne of...gold?" Thomas asked.

Before anybody could say anything, Penelope grabbed his left arm and pulled back the coat to reveal his tan skin underneath it. She pressed two of her fingers against the veins just underneath the skin and held them there for a few seconds. When she lifted her fingers away, she sighed and shook her head.

Gricus leaned over Thomas' back and asked, "Something up?"

Penelope chuckled half out of sarcasm, half out of surprise, "He's not lying. Are you Thomas?" she said as she leaned over to stare at Thomas from the side. Gricus leaned back and stared at Thomas from the opposite side.

Thomas began to breath a little quicker and asked, "...Trouble?"

That made more of the armsmen laugh and Kalos moved his cigar within his mouth as he looked at Penelope, "Why you waistin' your time on this bucket of meat doc? What are you gonna do with him?"

The xenologist rolled her eyes, "We may work for Landa...Kalos...but that doesn't mean I have a heart for a boy living on a dead world. I wasn't about to leave him behind to starve to death." she laughed incredulously.

An armsmen by the name of Gilian Fedder asked, "Just extra luggage to hall around if you ask me boss. I didn't sign to protect no boy that be actin' like some babe."

Kalos tossed his head in Fedder's direction, "That's right Fed, you signed on to follow _my _orders which come from the Inquisitor. I'm sure the boy here will make an pretty nice dinner date with the man himself. Then...we'll see we add him to our list to keep an eye out for."

Fedder sat back in his seat and rolled his eyes.

Thomas could not see where the Aquila was heading but he could feel it slowly rising into the sky the same as it had been for the past half an hour. Situated between Penelope and Gricus on the left wall of the Aquila's hold, he felt somewhat secure yet he did not like this uncomfortable feeling growing in his belly. The Aquila shook periodically and where as no one seemed phased, Thomas' eyes appeared to be focusing in and out.

Suddenly, he felt Gricus grab his right shoulder and the larger man simply squeezed it while saying, "There's a first for everything boy, though for you, this may be one of many times. Motion sickness gets to everyone in their lifetime." he laughed along with some of the gathered crew.

The uneasy feeling appeared to be pass slightly with Gricus' firm grip on him but it was still there nonetheless.

Another couple of minutes past and the holding bay kept their silence, mostly due in part to their newest member. The members of the mercenary team paid little attention and talked mostly among themselves while the rest of the occupants either glanced at Thomas or looked away whenever he looked their way.

"Believe it or not, they probably want to ask you questions of their own. That's what we are, xenologists. We ask questions...mainly about xenos but you get the picture." Gricus said.

"What...xe...xe...nos?" Thomas asked, turning to Gricus curiously.

Gricus furled his brow for a moment and pursed his lips, he looked at Penelope but she was speaking to another scientist to her left and completely out of the conversation. He sighed and replied, "Something that's not human Thomas. Vile...murderous...deceiving creatures they are, amplifying all that mars humanity ten-fold and making us look like petty thieves compared to the atrocities they commit."

Thomas blinked and his eyes looked away towards the middle of the walkway between the two rows of seats.

"But..."

Thomas' eyes came back.

"I said that I was a xenologist...someone who studies them." Gricus said, his attention now focused on Thomas himself, "So Thomas...why would I be working for a man who would want nothing more than see every last xeno dead and scattered?" He leaned in with a smile on his face.

"Man?" asked Thomas.

"Yes, that's who Penelope and I work for...his name...is Inquisitor Benjamin Landa...but he prefers "Landa". Interesting man he is, of his character you won't find much of in this galaxy that's for sure." Gricus said as the Aquila's speed began lessen, a sign they were approaching the _Wings of Dynasty_. His eyes scanned the entire bay before looking back at Thomas, "Listen Thomas...if you want to make a good impression on the man that is walking the line of what even his superiors would like him to do...you had best listen to either me or Penelope guide you through the ship, is that understood."

At first Gricus thought he might have overwhelmed the poor boy with too much information but when Thomas' head began to rock back and forth, he realized Thomas nodding.

"At least you understand what the word "understand" means." Gricus said and leaned forward in his seat, he saw through the opening to the cockpit that the servitor pilot was guiding the Aquila under the _Wings of Dynasty_, a heavily converted and modified _Cobra-Class_ frigate suited for the needs of a Rogue Trader captain and her Inquisitorial passengers.

The _Wings of Dynasty _currently cruising slowly across the sky at high altitude but the Aquila held plenty of speed to catch up with it. The shuttle ducked underneath the side of the _Wings of Dynasty _and Gricus could hear the low machinations as the servitor communicating with the controllers within the docking bay underneath the vessel.

Thomas followed the man's eyes as he looked out the front window of the cockpit, if he was curious or perplexed, his expression did not show but he did cock his head and blink.

_Perhaps that's his way of showing interest..._Gricus thought as the Aquila began to rise up into the frigate's bay and he saw people moving about on the deck as more Aquila's moved past their own to land in different corners. The frigate carried no fighter escort but that didn't mean it wasn't defenseless when it came to point-defense. If anything, Captain Gallahad would like to keep her ship's weaponry a secret to better surprise anyone who might want trouble. After a minute or so, the Aquila began to lower as it's wings folded and it touched down on the hangar floor, its back door lowering.

_It's worked out pretty well so far_...Gricus thought as he looked to Thomas, who was now looking forward again at Forman, who similarly stared back. Soon everybody started moving about as they all had their destinations but Thomas seemed actually frightened by all the movement, his head shifting this way and that.

Penelope leaned down and put an arm under his right and gently helped him to his feet, together with Gricus behind them, all of the occupants filed out of the Aquila in two columns by the sides they were seated on. When they got to the ramp, she helped him the entire way as he finally got onto the solid floor of the hangar. There was a multitude of servitors, Mechanicus personnel as well as security teams walking around the hangar and no one seemed to take too much interest in the three of them.

"Come, Sister Ortencia is waiting." Penelope said and guided Thomas off to the west side of the hangar with Gricus close behind, his eyes looking to see if anyone was staring but they all seemed to be wrapped up in their own work. He stopped for a moment before turning around to scan the hangar, looking for the Devil Dogs. When he found them, he saw them sitting in their usual hang out area next to some supply crates, talking among them selves.

There was nothing he could do, it was almost certain that word would get out of Thomas' appearance, whether by someone seeing him or by those that he had just shared the Aquila with. It was only a matter of time.

"Gricus, come on, he's about to collapse." Penelope urged and the man looked down and widened his eyes when he saw a small bloodied piece of skin lying there between his feet. Thomas was breathing heavily now as the pain of walking was catching up to him once more.

Together, the three of them ascended ramps and walked corridors to get to the infirmary, located on the direct west of the ship. Three times Thomas fell along the way and he began to cry on the second stumble but it wasn't long after that they came upon a set of massive mechanical doors painted on one side with the red cross and on the other the _Fleur de Lis_, customary of any order of the Sororitas.

The doors slid open when they detected the movement of the three and Penelope and Gricus were greeted with the sight of a great many cots lining both walls that extended far into the horizon and they only stopped when a great white curtain obscured their vision.

Sister Ortencia rose from kneeling by a cot filled by a member of the crew not a couple spots down to the right and turned around. As Penelope and Gricus lay the shaking Thomas down on the cot nearest to them on the left. Penelope took the large coat he was wearing off of him and pulled a blanket up over his feet.

The Sister Hospitaller walked towards them with her head bowed and hands cupped as her black dress robes barely touched the ground. When she reached their side, she looked to Penelope.

Penelope nodded, "New arrival."

The Sister Hospitaller didn't appear to mind the origins of this new arrival and asked, "Injuries?"

Gricus still found it uneasy to look at the Hospitaller's face-for in place of her left eye was a monocle device that ended up spreading up and down her dark-skinned face and extended around the back of her head, where it was obscured by her neck-length black hair and covered by her hood. Nevertheless, he said, "His feet are skinned, I think he might be suffering from early infection."

Ortencia nodded, "Thank you, I will send for you when he is awake."

"Awake?" wondered Penelope, but Ortencia was already moving and pulled a stool out from the wall to sit down next to Thomas' cot. His eyes were closed and sweat gleamed from his brow as his breathing became labored. Ortencia held up her left hand where an apparatus was attached to the back of it-allowing her to have various devices such as needles, syringes, scalpels, and other miniature tools. The device on her ring finger shifted so that a capsule holding a dull liquid connected to the needle. She then reached down and poked through Thomas' skin with it, injecting him with the anesthetic .

Thomas eyes fluttered for a couple moments as the anesthetic quickly and thoroughly did its work and not a minute later, his breathing had normalized and his chest rose and fell normally.

Gricus said to Penelope, "Come, we must speak with Landa."

Penelope looked to her husband and then back at Ortencia, the hospitaller had been examining the skinned flesh on his feet before she looked to the two of them, "He will be fine, nothing I haven't seen before." she said and got up to retreat further down the infirmary, gesturing to two other minor adeptas and issuing orders to them.

The woman rose to her feet as Gricus was already waiting outside, she took one last look at Thomas, covered up to his armpits in a soft blanket and breathing softly. She had no doubts about Ortencia and her expertise, the only thing she was worried about was explaining this to Landa. In the years she had known the Inquisitor, she could not predict any sort of decision he might make.

Then again, there weren't many Inquisitors that were easy to predict. She turned and walked out with Gricus, the two of them heading towards the Inquisitor's quarters near the rear of the ship.

He would want a good explanation.

* * *

_The environment looked as if it had been dipped in a sort of bluish-grey paint, the sky was a bit darker but not exactly a void like the vacuum of space. The wheat itself was duller in color but flowed just as gently in the wind as it did on any normal day. There were multiple trees that marked corners as well as beginnings and ends of fields and they too were blowing softly and creating a chorus of leaves rubbing together and branches bending to the will of the wind._

_He walked._

_He walked with no haste at all, no sense of obligation but with one direction. In his slow pace, he was able to extend his left hand down and feel the tips of the wheat brush up against his palm. Where the wheat may have been rough and coarse to some hands, his were hardened by sixteen years of hard work-making them formidable against most forms of irritation._

_In fact, the wheat felt delightful against his skin._

_He said nothing._

_He said nothing as the large gray walls spanning into both corners of his eyes came into view. His family's estate lay just beyond it seated atop a small hill with a barn on the lower slope of the far side where multiple narboars were kept along with plowing equipment. Again, there was no haste as he let the calm summer breeze flow over him and he basked in the broad daylight._

_In fact, even the sunlight itself was dull._

_He glided._

_He glided through the oceans of wheat that his family was so well-known for producing. Wheat was an essential product to Yama Enda's economy but it was not the only crop that was produced to feed the Emperor's hungry. He knew there were starving masses out there that needed each and every ounce of food he and his family could produce, and he made sure each and every day he ventured out that he would do his best to fill their hungry stomachs._

_He came over the crest of the hill he was walking on and..._

Thomas' nerves slowly returned to life.

His eyes fluttered weakly for a couple moments as soreness returned to his body. He could feel a soft blanket covering him up past his pectorals and it extended downward over his feet-completely covered. Groaning at the feeling, he shifted in his bed for a couple more moments before he saw a shadow pass on the side of his vision and he blinked out the fogginess.

That was when he saw her.

The woman was wearing a black hooded robe and her left eye along with a good portion of that side of her face was covered by machinery. Her one good light brown eye started down at him while he could see the monocle in her mechanical eye seemed to shift in an out of focus. She appeared to be scanning his face with her mechanical eye and simply looking at him with her real eye.

"Hello." she said in a soft voice and nodded her head lightly.

Thomas took a deep breath before croaking, "Hello."

The ebony woman formed a smile and said, "I am Sister Ortencia of the Order of the Cleansing Water, to whom do I speak to?"

Thomas blinked, part of him was surprised because he had barely remembered the last minutes before he had suddenly fell unconscious and dreamed that odd dream. He remembered being in great pain and Penelope lowering him onto this bed, but not much else. Still, that this woman was the first person to greet him when he woke up surprised him.

"Thomas...Makeo." he said.

The woman shifted a bit on the stool she was sitting on and nodded. Thomas eyes then scanned the rest of the infirmary, he didn't remember even entering this room so he turned to the woman called Ortencia and asked, "Where...am I?"

If Ortencia was perplexed as to why Thomas could answer that for himself, she did not show it as she said, "You are in my infirmary aboard Captain Jessel Tessa's _Wings of Dynasty_, under the command of his lordship Inquisitor Landa of the Ordo Xenos." Ortencia had remembered that Penelope called this boy a "new arrival" and she assumed that he had only recently arrived on the ship.

Ortencia gestured to one of her adeptas down the way inside the infirmary, who made her way over to the Hospitaller. The woman issued her orders for the adepta to find the Vicars and bring them back, which the adepta quickly left the infirmary to do. She turned back to Thomas and saw him staring at her with very blank eyes. Her mechanical eye scanned his heartbeat and vital signs-nothing out of the ordinary.

She spoke, "The bottoms of your feet have been sanitized, stitched, and patched. However, you must do your best to not walk on them for at least two or three weeks, while the ointment underneath the wrappings heals the broken skin. In the process of performing a check-up, I also discovered stressed ribs-they have been wrapped to prevent further fracture."

Thomas blinked before looking down at his feet, still sticking up under the blanket but now he began to feel added weight against them as well as against his ribs. He lifted up the blanket to stare down and saw the white wrap spun around his feet and heel while it was also wrapped entirely around his body at his ribs, he was still naked though.

He lowered the blanket and looked at Ortencia, clearing his throat as he said, "Thank you." He groaned as he did, feeling the pain in his chest.

Ortencia nodded and replied, "Ours is to honor the martyr, tend the fallen, defend the innocent, and always walk in the light." she then rose to her feet and moved way to attend some other occupants of cots further down the infirmary. Thomas watched her go, listening to her in his head repeating those words. She had said them so sincerely and calmly as to she had just been speaking with him earlier. The way she had closed her eyes and raised her voice came off as more than just her normal voice.

_What a strange woman..._his minds told him..._but I am thankful_...

He found it odd how he could say these things in his head and practically hear them clearly but when it came to saying them, it was as if added weight had been placed on his throat and holes in his mind began to appear, where he could not go any further.

Thomas looked back at the ceiling, lit by scattered overhead lights and an occasional candle on the walls. The temperature seemed to be perfect because he wasn't too hot underneath the sheet but at the same time it was enough to make him want to keep it on him. He turned his head to see Ortencia and her two followers moving down the infirmary-checking in and tending to other patients.

He seemed so far away from them.

He yawned, feeling sleepy again and with nothing else better to do than to continue resting, he closed his eyes and allowed sleep to invade his mind again.

When Thomas awoke an unknown time later, he immediately noticed how dark it was and how the only light was coming from the bright candles that lined the walls behind every bedside. Thomas sat up in his bed, only able to see until just beyond the foot of the bed. The temperature had remained the same but Thomas could tell that there was something very odd going on, he just didn't know what.

A movement out of the corner of his left eye caused him to shift in that direction and he could have sworn he saw a candle seemingly floating in the darkness towards him from the middle aisle. It was then that his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw the faint outline of Ortencia's robes in the light generated by the candle. Her face was expressionless as she looked towards him, her hood and face becoming visible as she walked closer and closer. He soon saw her general form as she sat down on the stool he had seen her sit on the previous time he had been awake

"Why...no...light?" Thomas asked as his eyes scanned the dark infirmary.

"This is my tradition to ward off the thirsty monsters that inhabit the Sea of Souls." Ortencia said, "While they would think that darkness is their ally, they abhor the sight of the most Holy Emperor's eternal candle." she said poetically while nodding her head.

The only thing that Thomas felt was different from the when he was previously awake was that the light was mostly gone, and what was this Sea of Souls she spoke of?

"What...Sea of...Souls?"

Ortencia's mechanical eye focused in on him and her other eye seemed to narrow at him like he was challenged. She said, "The Warp...simply put."

"Warp." Thomas said, "What is...that?"

The Sister Hospitaller said firmly, "I will not speak of that which is most unholy in this place. This is an infirmary where the Emperor's hands reach out through time and space to hold his sons and daughters...this is not a place where the defilers of his throne will be discussed."

Ortencia seemed to quickly change the subject, "Are you still in pain?" she asked.

Thomas fumbled for a moment for the right words before saying, "No...but feel...heavy..."

"Soreness." the woman finished for him and nodded, "It was to be expected, but there is no reason for you to remain in bed...is there?" she asked him, looking up and staring at him mechanical eye to eye.

The boy didn't even realize he was shaking his head from side to side when Ortencia continued, "The Vicars have left you clothes to dress in and I have orders from his Lordship to get you on your feet as soon as possible. Please stand up and dress yourself, I will return shortly." Ortencia reached down and came back up with a stack of clothes and placed them on the foot of the bed before picking up the candle and walking away back into the deep infirmary.

Thomas looked at the clothes, dumbfounded for a minute before lifting himself up and pulling his legs up to put them over the side of the bed. He instinctively put his feet to the floor but quickly retracted them when he felt the ice-cold ground. He could barely see his feet hovering above the ground before he pulled them back up onto the bed, giving the invisible ground a scowl before sitting back on the bed.

He reached over to the stack of clothes and pulled out the first article-some underwear. Thomas wrinkled his brow before he slipped them down over his feet and pulled them up to the desired height. Next came the socks, then a long-sleeved shirt, a pair of pants with a great many pockets, a coat with a collar that made his head look small, form-fitting boots, and finally...goggles?

The word was right there in his mind and he knew the definition but...goggles? Inside? Not outside? No inhibitions or second-thoughts crossed his mind as he reached for them but at that very moment, Ortencia returned with two odd looking poles in her arms, with the candle held in her finger tips.

The woman seemed to understand Thomas' confused expression even in the dim light and said, "Crutches...you have been in bed for nearly six standard rotations and have not moved...you will need other ways of helping yourself walk."

"What...crutch..es?" Thomas asked.

Ortencia furrowed her brow and held out the two strange looking poles saying, "When Gricus and Penelope first told me of your condition, I didn't believe them. I expected a child trapped in a young man's body but you...you are something else entirely."

"Where...Gricus...and Penel...lope?" Thomas asked.

"They have jobs Thomas, unlike you." Ortencia said and walked over to stand in front of him. When she said his name for the first time, something told Thomas that he had best obey the woman's command but when he was about to put his feet on the ground, he hesitated, the memory of the cold ground coming to the forefront of his mind.

"Is something wrong?" Ortencia asked.

"Cold...floor." Thomas said, his eyes peeking over the edges of his field of vision.

"You have boots on." The hospitaller said, cocking her head.

Thomas suddenly realized this and put his feet down instictively and was not met by the cold ground he had felt earlier but cringed a bit when he felt the unusual feeling in the bottoms of his feet. He tried to rise but the weights in his legs and tightness in his ribs forced him back down with a groan.

Ortencia nodded, "That is why these will help you. Come, his Lordship is waiting for you."

Thomas had heard the name repeatedly and asked, "Quis...tor...Landa?"

The hospitaller nodded her affirmation.

Thomas placed the bottom of his hands on the bed before slowly pushing upwards with as much energy as he could mast and his weight gradually shifted to his feet. His knees bent at the pressure for a moment before Sister Ortencia reached out and grabbed his hand which made Thomas look at her suddenly. Her hand, which didn't have the apparatus on it, was smooth and grip was noticeably weaker than his. Whether or not she was physically weaker or not, Thomas did not know.

What he did know was that with that touch, it suddenly seemed easier to lift himself to his feet. With the bottoms of his boots against the ground, he slowly straightened himself until he stood tall in front of Ortencia, who promptly handed him the crutches.

"Put these under your arms, I imagine you don't know how to use them either." Ortencia said and she raised her eyebrow when she saw Thomas nodded that he did indeed not know how. The hospitaller nodded and continued, "Move them out and then forward and shift your weight onto them as you move. You will periodically need at one foot on the ground, so I advise you to alternate." she said.

Thomas looked at her and swallowed his bile as he looked down at the darkness before looking back at the sister, whose face and part of her body was only partly visible. Ortencia leaned down to pick up the goggles lying on his bed and put them around his neck saying, "You will need these soon."

She continued, "We shall exit the infirmary, it is lighter outside. You will practice with these on your way to his Lordship's quarters." Ortencia moved in front of him and turned back to look at him. Thomas couldn't even see the ends of the crutches on the ground as he shifted his weight forward and he instantly lost control, a shiver running up his spine as he was about to stumble forward when Ortencia reached out a hand and placed it against his chest.

"Let your crutches lead and you body follow, just like if your legs where still up to speed." she said and for the first time since Thomas had met the Sister Hospitaller, she smiled.

_Curious_...was the word Thomas thought of as he looked down again and grabbed the inner handles of the crutches and moved them forward, but Ortencia held out a hand mid-way and said, "Only as far as you legs would go."

Thomas mind processed what she said and he imagined himself walking normally and like Ortenica had implied, it was not too far in front of his normal body. Carefully, he moved the crutches outward before placing them in front of him about what he judged to be a foot ahead of him. Thomas then lifted up one of his legs like Ortenica had said and nursed it close to his other leg. Finally, he took a hop of a step so that both legs where now between the crutches.

He looked up at Ortencia, who was again smiling.

"Good. Most of fallen over and re injured themselves their first time." Ortencia said as they noticed the other two adeptas moving towards them with bright lanterns in their hands. When they got nearer, Thomas was able to see more of the area around him as Ortencia said, "Come, keep moving."

Thomas repeated the motion again, slower this time as his eyes were still trained on the ground but gradually, he moved out of the aisle between his bed and the one on his left to out in the main aisle. The adeptas maneuvered around him so that he would always see where his feet were planted. Once or twice he got shivers in his spine as he was about to misstep but Ortencia always was within arms reach to push against his chest.

Thomas was at the entrance to Infirmary quickly thereafter and when it opened, Ortencia put a hand on his back and sort of pushed on him aggressively to get him out. He almost stumbled dramatically if it hadn't been for the fact that he had his crutches out in front of him to break his stumble. As soon as they were but a foot outside, one of the adeptas pressed a control pad on the inside and the doors shut themselves. He looked back at the closed doors with their red cross and strange white symbol but Orentcia was already pressing him on.

"Come, the Inquisitor is expecting you." she said.

As they walked and hobbled through the corridors-up ascending and descending walkways, Thomas broke into rhythm where his movements became more coordinated and fluid and he was able to make greater strides with gradually increasing speed. He had no idea where he was going, just that at the end of this journey must be the man by the name of Inquisitor Landa.

"You have a fast recovery." Ortencia complimented him.

"Thank...you." Thomas said to which Ortencia looked at him and then back in front of them.

Soon, the pair were at the front of two similarly massive doors at the end of a corridor but this time it was their height rather than their width that was noticeable along with a giant red "I" with a human skull in the middle. Ortencia bowed her head in its presence while Thomas simply studied it.

For a minute or so the pair simply stood there until a panel encased by a cage lit up green and the doors began to open and Thomas was met by the sight of a tall man with slightly gray and black hair standing right on the other side with his hands behind his back. His shoulders seemed to be amplified by brown armor plates and his chest was heavily padded with a black vest and assortment of trinkets dangling from his breast or shoulders. The most noticeable aspect was yet another of those "I" with skull symbols painted onto the middle of his vest, this one was of pure gold.

A friendly smile was on his face as his eyes scanned the crippled boy and Sister Hospitaller in front of him. Another awkward moment passed as Ortencia still had her head bowed while Thomas stared at this curious man.

"Hello." Thomas said suddenly, to which the man raised an eyebrow.

"Speak only when spoken to!" Ortencia hissed lowly, but the man held up a hand.

"That will be all m'lady Ortenica, I'm sure Mr. Makeo here was just trying to be friendly." the man said and waved the hospitaller away. Ortencia looked nervously to the boy and then to the Inquisitor before bowing and stepping back away from Thomas.

"Come on boy, don't be shy I won't bite." the man laughed and stepped to the side within the massive room and beckoned to Thomas. Thomas looked at Ortencia who still had her head bowed before moving himself forward on his crutches. When he entered, the Inquisitor was already moving back into his room which was rather tall more so than wide.

Thomas watched as the doors closed behind him and Ortencia disappeared from sight. He turned back around on his crutches and watched as the man began combing the shelves of his bookcase for something, his fingers moving across the hardback books before he angled his head around to look at Thomas.

"Oh, have a seat boy. I've heard about your injuries, no need to go on making it worse for yourself." Landa said and gestured to a round table off to the left near the wall of the room. He then returned to his books. There were in fact many rows of book cases stacked behind the first wall of metal cases and to Thomas, it looked like they extended a good long while as far as his eyes could see down the aisles.

There was a study desk opposite the round table on the other side of the room, and behind that wall appeared to be a sort of blackened screen, almost if not as dark as the infirmary he had just come from. Thomas hobbled over to the round table with his crutches and pulled out a chair nearest to the wall while placing the crutches against the wall. Slowly, he lowered himself down to the chair before his legs gave out and he flopped onto its seat. He took his goggles off of his neck and placed them on the table in between his hands.

When Thomas looked up, Landa was sitting down at the opposite end of the table with his smile still occupying his face.

For a minute or so, the two just stared at each other with Landa holding his smile and Thomas staring back with a blank expression. Then, the corners of Thomas' mouth began to lift into a smile in order to mimic Landa's expression.

"How interesting, are you smiling because I am or because you want to?" Landa asked.

Thomas blinked, took a breath and then said, "I want...to."

The Inquisitor cocked his head and then shook it violently for a moment before smiling again, "Let me apologize for my unusual behavior Mr. Makeo, my name is Inquisitor Benjamin Landa of The Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition...Ordo Xenos."

"You know...my name." Thomas said.

Landa nodded, "Your friends Mr. and Mrs. Vicar told me all about you!"

Thomas looked from one side of the table to the other before looking back at Landa, "Gricus...Pene...Pen...nelope."

The Inquisitor nodded again, "Good...good...quite good hold of your speech for someone whose lost his mind."

"Where...are they?" Thomas asked.

Landa spread his hands, "As Ortencia has no doubt informed you, Gricus and Penelope are elsewhere on the ship going about their duties just as everyone on the ship has their duties...but you."

Thomas blinked and was about to say something when the Inquisitor held his hands up from the table, "Mr. Makeo, this a simple formality, there is no need to be fearful, anxious, or anything of the sort. We are simply two men sitting down at this table...getting to know each other. Does that sound acceptable to you?"

Thomas closed his mouth and after a couple seconds, nodded his understanding.

The Inquisitor smiled, "So...Mr. Makeo...it has been quite a short journey from walking around naked on a dead world to sitting in front of me isn't it?"

Thomas nodded.

Landa leaned back in his chair, "There is no need to say much on your part, I have known Gricus and Penelope for quite some time now and their expertise and knowledge is quite unmatched."

Again, Thomas said nothing but blinked, this time narrowing his eyebrows in slight confusion.

The elder man snapped his fingers and said, "You must be thirsty, how does milk sound?" he said as he got up and walked back to a large rounded desk that spanned the middle of the ground in front of the book cases. When he was behind it, he leaned down and pulled out twin mugs along with two bottles-one filled with a white liquid, and the other blood red.

_Milk..._

The word was oddly familiar in Thomas mind.

"Do you know what an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos is?" Landa asked suddenly as he poured Thomas' glass of milk while he filled his own glass with a dark red alcoholic beverage. He smiled as he saw Thomas shake his head.

"No." the boy responded.

"Well..." Landa said as he grabbed the glasses in hand and walked around towards the table where Thomas was seated, "The way heretics deal with live aliens in order destabilize the Imperium, an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor deals in their corpses." he clicked his tongue a couple of times and nodded at Thomas' goggles on the table. Thomas looked at them for a moment before realizing what Landa meant and quickly removed them from the table.

Landa put Thomas glass in front of him as he sat down and raised his own glass to his guest, "Toast?" he asked.

The boy blinked for a moment and copied Landa's movement, where the Inquisitor bumped the glasses together before taking a large gulp out of his own mug. Thomas gripped his glass with two hands and carefully took a sip of the milk. He allowed himself a few extra sips when he liked the taste and nodded in appreciation.

"My superior...my Inquisitor Lord...places a death warrant on a heretic or xeno's head, for this case we will take a xeno..." Landa said, raising his eyebrows for dramatic effect, "I track that xeno, I find that xeno, I _kill _that xeno and after I've killed him or her I either dispose of his or her body on site or transport it back to my Inquisitor Lord." Landa chuckled for a moment, "Sometimes thats easier said than done."

Thomas blinked and nodded once to show he somewhat understood.

"I show my superior the disposed body proving yes indeed I truly _have _killed him or her in which case that certain assignment is over." Landa said, taking another swig of his mug, "So...like xenos...its a one crime and done business for heretics."

Thomas took another two-handed sip of his milk, a larger one this time, before putting it down and asking, "What...a heretic?"

Landa swallowed the rest of his gulp and replied, "The highest class of criminal in the Imperium."

"You kill...heretics...alien heretics?" Thomas asked, raising his eyebrows.

The Inquisitor raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Ah a good observation Thomas, yes...there are the occasional disgusting...despicable...indescribable...heretics that would consort with xenos to produce unholy monsters...but those are rare. Nevertheless, it is my duty as a Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos to either prevent such an event from occurring or sterilize it if it already has occurred."

Thomas blinked but nodded blankly, not understanding one bit.

"Now...Mr. Makeo, I believe I have given my fair share of the introductions. Would it also be fair to say that it is now your turn to introduce yourself?" Landa asked, sitting back in his chair and taking another gulp from his glass.

Thomas' eyes swept over the table as he found himself nodding of agreement. His mind told him that that was fair, shouldn't he now tell this man all that he knew so far? He reached up and took another two handed sip of his milk before putting it down and looking at the Inquisitor who nodded at him.

"My name is...Thomas Tiberian...Aurelius-Julciad...Makeo. I...do not know...where I come from...I just...awoke...the day I found...Penelope...and Gricus." Thomas said, taking a deep breath before continuing, "My feet...hurt...bleeding...like I..."

Landa held up a hand suddenly and bowed his head for a moment, "Forgive my interruption Mr. Makeo but allow me to help you to some degree. Let me start off by saying that you are far from the most mysterious case I personally have had to deal with, there is nothing to afraid of here. I judge all equally except...well you know by now." Landa smiled.

"Heretic xeno." Thomas blurted out.

The Inquisitor pursed his lips, "Hmmm...close enough...anyway you were about to say something about your feet...like you had been..." his voiced trailed off and gestured slightly for Thomas to continue.

Thomas' eyes swept right and left as if the answer could be see somewhere within his spectrum, but he could not find it. It was Landa who held up a finger and said, "Like you had been walking for a very...very long time."

The boy blinked and Landa chuckled as he said, "Oh I remember a particular assignment to hunt down a rogue witch with Lady Inquisitor Ulga Yularan of the Ordo Hereticus upon Ragnor Prime. That witch was a tricky one, apparently had a retinue of alien mercenaries at her side as if she were some crude mirror of an Inquisitor! Hence that was why I was called upon to aid the Hereticus Inquisitor."

Landa could see the boy's interest behind his eyes as he smiled, "Lady Yularan made the foolish attempt to deal with the rogue psyker before I arrived with my retinue. As a result she was critically overwhelmed both physically and psychically-the psyker managed to find a weak spot in her defenses...as incredulous as it sounds..convinced her to drop everything and simply walk until her feet began to bleed! Poor girl, found her retinue dead and she was miles away walking like a servitor!"

The Inquisitor laughed and slapped his belly as Thomas blinked, slowly beginning to recognize the story but not its meaning so he asked, "Where is...Inquis...Yularan?"

Landa was in the middle of drinking so he quickly swallowed and said, "Oh Lady Yularan? Well she got her rehabilitation, felt horrified about the whole thing and decided to go on a penance and reawakening trip to Ophelia VII. I don't blame her, though I imagine she'll be back soon...with infinitely times more the determination to hunt down the rogue psyker." he raised an eyebrow and nodded as he said that.

"Escaped?" Thomas asked aloud. Landa was impressed at the boy's ability to remember such a big word.

"Yes, mostly due in part to the Lady Inquisitor's apprehensiveness. I tried to track the witch but she was long gone by the time arrived, and it was only the matter of a couple days between the time the Lady Inquisitor wen't in and I arrived on station." Landa said, sitting back once more in his chair, "The bitch is out there somewhere...using inhuman methods to avoid human capture." he shook his head.

It was silent after that but Landa knew this was not the end of the story, the boy had already come this far and his voice gave away how much he had left to tell.

"Continue." Landa said, angling his voice to make it sound more friendly than a command.

Thomas looked down at the wooden table and said, "Eyes opened...Saw everything...began to...smell...heard...nothing." the boy seemed to be surprised that he had said that last word, though Landa noted that mentally.

"Words...in my head...formed...sentences." Thomas continued, he looked back at Landa, "First sentence...I spoke...Thomas Tiberian Aurelius Julciad-Makeo."

Landa smiled and replied, "Good...good, to hold onto your name through your memory proves you have one thing from your past life." he seemed elated to see the curiosity in the boy's eyes.

"What?" asked Thomas.

The Inquisitor leaned in and said, "A strong mind."

Thomas blinked in confusion.

Landa spread his hands, "But of course that could mean a variety of things and have a multitude of definitions. Your case is interesting Mr. Makeo, I am no doctor, but I am sure Sister Ortencia can explain medical terminology better than I can. I am but a simple detective in his majesty's name."

Thomas was silent.

The Inquisitor exhaled lowly and the two sat there for a couple awkward moments before he continued, "You have absolutely no idea what I just said do you?"

This time, Thomas found the strength to say, "Understand...some words. Others...not...much."

"Curious." the Inquisitor replied and leaned in while placing his left elbow on the table and the side of his head in his palm, "How very curious Mr. Makeo."

Landa wrinkled his brow and cocked his head, back up, "Well Mr. Makeo, contrary to what you might think, you are a far less suspicious case than the heretics and xenos I have pursued across hundreds of star systems over my career. Yes...I agree with my xenologists Penelope and Gricus Vicar...lovely couple they are...I confirm that your diagnosis of severe amnesia is quite right."

Thomas just stared on blankly.

The Inquisitor smiled, "I must say that while it is not the most unusual case, it is the first of its kind I have come across. An amnesic boy seemingly walking across a dead world that has had next to no life on it for the more accurate description of five years whilst naked..." Landa's eyes scanned Thomas for a moment as the boy blinked.

"But..."

Thomas' eyes swiveled to Landa's.

"What would you like me to do with you Mr. Makeo?" Landa said, placing his hands on the table and folding them.

Inquisitor Landa had a smile that seemed the hold the power to grant whatever Thomas' next request was. Part of it was a smile, the rest was a smirk. However, Thomas barely seemed to notice, he was more focused on answering the question then figuring out what the underlying motive was behind it.

"Stay." Thomas said.

"Stay where?" Landa asked.

"Stay...on...on ship. With...Pe...Penelope...and Gricus." Thomas said, struggling a bit with words. In his years as an interrogator under his own master, Landa learned easily how to tell whether the average human being was lying or not. Simply introduce a little fear or added serenity and the person would break right then and there. It was simple to tell that this boy was telling the truth behind his amnesia because of the blankness of his expression and sheer clueless eyes when he looked at Landa.

The Inquisitor had dealt with people whose memories had been shot to hell either by a freak accident or an overdose. But Thomas was by far the worst case-struggling with his words and not knowing key details of the Imperium for someone his age. Then again, could Landa really charge or ridicule or accuse him with anything? The boy was telling the truth no matter how blank it was.

Landa blinked before cocking his head and nodding slightly, "I don't see why not. They're rare...Penelope and Gricus...to be as invested into a project that my superiors would like to kept under wrap from the rest of the Inquisition."

Thomas looked like he hadn't understood that last sentence, but the first one he completely registered. It was then that Landa saw the corners of Thomas' mouth rise to from a slight smile. The Inquisitor knew that Thomas wouldn't remember half of the conversation or maybe even less a couple hours from now, he would only remember the key components.

_Just like myself..._Landa thought as he sat back in his chair and said, "I have made my decision Mr. Makeo, you may stay but you are the responsibility of Mr. and Mrs. Vicar...not mine...do I make myself clear?" he asked, eyebrows raised to emphasize the point.

Thomas' head rocked back and forth.

"Welcome aboard Mr. Makeo, I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Vicar could do for an apprentice...the benefits of which would not only extend to them but to me as well...so by my decision, I think we are all happy." Landa said as he nodded.

Thomas still held his silly smile.

Landa narrowed his eyes and then gestured for the door, "You may go Mr. Makeo, thank you for your time."

Thomas' eyes swiveled across the table and he uttered something that sounded like, "Oh." and then reached under the table for his goggles before rising out of his chair. He had been sitting down for so long that his muscles protested and his legs buckled under the soreness and pain in his feet. Landa saw this and managed to catch his arm as the boy reached to stop himself on the table.

Landa added, "Our destination is nearly a four weeks journey away. Perhaps some exercise and proper rest is in order Mr. Makeo?"

Thomas slowly rose back onto his feet as Landa let go and he looked at the Inquisitor with the same clueless expression he had held for most of the expression. The Inquisitor narrowed his eyes before sighing, "Perhaps I should by relaying this information to your handlers, which is not my job Mr. Makeo. Either you will learn what needs to be learned by a boy your age...or you will not last long at all."

To the Inquisitor's slight surprise, Thomas' mouth formed a smile and he said, "Yes."

He hobbled over to the wall and reached for his crutches before he put them under his arms and then moved to the door. Landa called out, "Mr. and Mrs. Vicar! If you will enter please, watch out for the boy coming your way."

The doors to the Inquisitor's quarters opened slowly and Penelope strode over to Thomas to help him the rest of the way out of the room while Gricus stood aside and watched them do so. Sister Ortencia was waiting on the other side as well and she took over the task of helping Thomas with his crutches when Penelope let go of him.

She said, "You will go with Sister Ortencia for now Thomas, we will find you when we are done."

Thomas blinked once and said, "Yes."

With that, the Sister Hospitaller guided Thomas back down the hallway towards the infirmary and Penelope walked back to the Inquisitor's room as Gricus shut the doors behind her.

Landa was at his view screen that was glazed over black to protect the occupants of the room from looking at the Sea of Souls. Of course the Gellar field was the real protector but to even look at the Warp while moving through it...well...not many survived to tell that tale and Landa wasn't about to join them. His flickered at his reflection in the black screen as he saw Penelope and Gricus sit down at the table that Thomas had just been sitting at.

He laughed, "Where did you find a poor soul like that?"

Penelope answered, "He found me Inquisitor...he was just...behind me all of a sudden. He must have heard me rummaging through the remains of those buildings when he found me."

The Inquisitor still did not turn around, "I believe you Mrs. Vicar." said as soon as Penelope was finished speaking and he continued, "That's all you needed me to do wasn't it? Believe you?" Landa finally turned around and sighed as he moved to pour himself a different glass of alcohol from his bar.

"If it is any inconvenience to you Inquisitor just say the word and-" Gricus said.

"What? Throw him out the airlock to be devoured by daemons? I may answer to no one but my Lords but I'm not that inhuman Mr. Vicar." Landa said without looking at him, still trying to decide which drink to pour.

The sound of the name of the malevolent beings of the warp made Penelope shiver as Gricus continued, "Of course not Inquisitor I was just-"

"There are no words needed Mr. Vicar on your part, only on mine." Landa said, finally deciding on a blood red wine. He finally turned around to pour it but still did not look at the pair as he continued, "His life is your responsibility Mr. Vicar and Mrs. Vicar...not mine."

He lifted his eyes to look at the two of them, "Smart boy he is I'll give him that...but weak in mind and in spirit. No knowledge of the Imperium whatsoever and the Emperor and his Throne? Now while I admit this is not the most unusual case I have become aware of it is the worst case of added mass to our assignment."

The couple were silent.

Landa's eyes were narrowed, "Where we are going Mr. and Mrs. Vicar my Lordship would like to keep a very...very tight lid on. This means that this boy is now your child, your son. You will keep him in line and keep his mouth closed at all times until he is allowed to. You will tell him what to speak and how to speak it in the presence of others and you will do so without question."

He could hear a deep breath coming from Gricus so he looked up and said, "Something the matter Mr. Vicar?"

"Gricus!" Penelope said sternly and narrowed her expression.

"No Mrs. Vicar, let your husband speak his mind, I am listening intently." Landa said, holding up his glass to Gricus. The Inquisitor and Gricus locked eyes for a few moment before Gricus shifted his gaze away and drummed his fingers on the table. Gricus appeared to be debating internally with himself and an awkward silence ensued for the next minute as Landa waited patiently while Penelope looked at him intently.

Finally, he spoke, "This is entirely new situation for me Inquisitor you have to understand."

"Noted." Landa replied and took a sip.

"I..." Gricus exhaled through his nose, "At the persistence of my wife...I will acknowledge that I have my suspicions about the boy. Whether or not this is just because I have never experienced this or not is up for debate but...I just can't help but feel uncomfortable around him I mean...amnesia...don't you forget everything?" he asked.

Landa shook his head, "The human mind is a treasure chest of secrets and a labyrinth that even the most high of Lords do not full understand. You would think that with how far humanity has come from the Age of Strife that we would have conquered ourselves so to speak..." Landa came out from behind the counter and walked over back to the tinted view screen, "Trust me, I have tortured it, nurtured it, dissected it, taken it apart and put it back together again, and compared it to the minds of xenos...yet there are still mysteries about the human mind that I may not live to discover."

He turned to Gricus, "Mr. Makeo is the epitome of such a mystery because the Emperor has decided to pull a few strings to leave one half completely vented and the other half in disrepair." he took another swig as he said, "You think of him as a liar, a deceiver, a schemer, and a child...am I wrong Mr. Vicar?"

Gricus just stared at him.

Landa smiled, "I knew I wasn't, anyway in the approximately twenty-three minutes I spent speaking with Mr. Makeo I deduced only one thing."

"What is that Inquisitor?" Gricus asked.

Penelope muttered something.

"Ah yes you had it Mrs. Vicar! Go ahead, say it!" Landa said, suddenly urging Penelope on.

Penelope swallowed and said, "Intelligence."

"Ah yes of course! Intelligence!" Landa laughed and lifted his glass to the two of them, "Knowledge is power and he has that! He's ascends far above the bumbling dogs that I hired for this mission and his mind is not lobotomized like a servitor. No...I do believe you would have discussed this among yourselves already am I right Mr. and Mrs. Vicar? That boy's intelligence has remained with him throughout his previous life, his amnesia, and now."

Landa took a breath and sipped his wine again, "But...you hold your reservations Mr. Vicar, and that is perfectly fine for you to do so. After all, he is your responsibility now."

The couple were silent.

Landa spread his hands, "Is this acceptable?"

The nodded and simultaneously said, "Yes."

"Good. You may go." Landa said, waving his free hand at them. The couple rose from their seats and the twin doors opened to the Inquisitor's quarters as they walked out, Gricus wen't to turn around but Landa held up a hand, "That'll be all Mr. Vicar, no need."

Gricus blinked and then nodded before turning around to follow his wife down the corridor. Landa took a couple steps across his quarters and looked at the seat that Thomas had been sitting in not a half hour earlier. He then lifted his wine glass and stared at the seat through what wine was left in it.

"We shall watch your career with great interest...Mr. Makeo." he smiled and finished the drink, he sighed and put the empty glass down at the table before asking, "Won't we Nyjia?"

Just then, a shadow materialized from behind the first row of bookcases closest to the right wall, revealing a slender but muscular woman in a black bodysuit and shimmering silver hair flowing down her back that contrasted with her darker skin. Her green eyes peered at the direction where the couple had just left before and then back at the Inquisitor, who raised an eyebrow at her.

"As will Lord Parthon." she said.

* * *

_My Lord,_

_I have watched as you have instructed and the Inquisitor appears to be proceeding with your investment smoothly. His hiring of the mercenary group was unnecessary in my opinion-they're a bunch of greedy gangsters and out of the hundred of them, I estimate less then twenty are actually good shots, but who am I to question his lordship?_

_The crew of the ship remain clueless to the aliens that are tracking this vessel. They appear to know its course and destination fully and it is my educated guess that a xenos seer is leading the opposition against the Inquisitor. These xenos appear arrogant in believing that they have remained hidden, but thanks to your trump card, they have appeared everywhere you have said they would. Per your instructions, I will stand down until further notice._

_I will have you made aware that during the rest period on the deserted world of Yama Enda, the xenologists came across a wandering boy suffering from severe amnesia. He appeared naked and confused but as I watched the Inquisitor question him, it is clear that there is a past still laying intact underneath layers of loss. The Inquisitor seems keen on washing his hands clean of responsibility when this mission is through, though I imagine you are still keen on uncovering the truth behind the death of the agri-continent on Yama Enda? I request your further instructions on the matter._

_I look forward to our next transmission._

_Exitus Acta Probat._


	9. Human Error

It had been a approximately twelve days since the _Wings of Dynasty _had entered the warp and a week since Thomas had met Inquisitor Landa and so far things had been going well according to the Vicars. He was currently staying in the care of Sister Ortencia in the infirmary-either simply resting or sticking his aching feet in hot water. Every now and then he would take a couple of steps around the front of the infirmary so that his eyes could readjust to the light but other than that he didn't travel too far.

Either way, he didn't think much of it. He had not seen either of the Vicars since first returning with Ortencia to the infirmary and he wondered where they could be. The only places he had been in this ship were the infirmary and the Inquisitor's quarters and everywhere in between, but Gricus had said this was a big ship, so they could be anywhere at this time.

During that intermediate time, he could not help but wonder why he had not told the Inquisitor about the man named Virgil that had led him to Penelope, and this very odd dream he had been having every time he slept. In all truthfulness, he was more interested in the dream than anything else and it occupied his thoughts much of the time he was in the infirmary.

Where did this dream take place?

Was the environment so different than the one he had seen on the planet he had awoken on?

How could he feel the wheat his hand was brushing the top of?

He was pondering these questions a week after meeting Inquisitor Landa when the doors to the infirmary opened behind him. Thomas did not look back, still deeply zoned out by trying visualize the dream again.

"Hello Thomas." said the voice of Penelope, which caused Thomas to snap out of his daydreaming. He looked to his side to see the woman with dirty blonde hair and deep blue eyes sit down on the side of the bed next to him and smile, "How are you feeling?"

"Much better." Thomas replied instantly and blinked before continuing, "Doesn't hurt...as much."

Penelope nodded, "I'm glad." she looked over to Sister Ortencia, who was busy instructing her acolytes on tending to other patients, she looked back and once she saw Penelope, she nodded and went back to her work, all of them barely seen except for the candles that lit the walls and in their hands.

Thomas sat up in his bed and pulled the covers off and swung his legs off the edge to, his ribs still wrapped as Ortencia had discovered even more damage to them than previously thought. He had taken to sleeping in his pants but would usually find a fresh pair of clothes waiting for him on the nightstand.

"I take it you haven't traveled outside of the infirmary since you last saw the Inquisitor?" Penelope asked as Thomas hissed when he moved his body the wrong way, he seemed to be trying to get his feet in his boots. The woman shook her head and chuckled as she Thomas struggled to bend over properly and she came around the foot of the bed to help him.

"Something tells me you haven't learned your limits yet, what? The little machine trying to do something he can't?" Penelope asked. Thomas blinked and cocked his head but shrugged nevertheless as Penelope helped his feet into his boots.

"So...you think you're good enough to walk on your own?" Penelope asked, she almost seemed excited to hear his answer.

Thomas looked up at her and nodded.

"Good. Then I think it's time I showed you around your new home." Penelope asked and got up to go speak with Ortencia.

"Home." Thomas echoed when Penelope was out of earshot. He blinked again before reached for the rest of his clothes and dressing himself. Penelope returned soon thereafter looking pleased with herself just as Thomas slung his goggles over his neck.

"I think I'll take you around the lower decks first, so you can see the inner workings of the ship. I'll think I'll introduce you to Eremis as well, he can be chippy at times, mostly when he's busy but he hasn't got the chance to go to ground in a long time, so I think he'll be in the mood now."

Thomas simply nodded, even though he had no idea who this Eremis was.

"Come on, let's go. It won't be too long now until we arrive at Kiliak." Penelope said, gently pushing at his back to make Thomas actually moved. Together he and Penelope moved out of the darkened infirmary and the doors closed quickly behind them. Penelope motioned to their left and they began to walk to destinations unknown according to Thomas.

"This is a ship...spacecraft." Thomas said as his eyes scanned the interior and the repetitive hallways.

"That's good of you to remember, do you ever recall...being in one?" asked Penelope, trying to frame his amnesia to the question.

"I don't know. Words...definitions...in my head. But from where?" Thomas said as he looked to Penelope who in turn tried to nod like she understood what he was talking about, but there was little use trying to make sense of his ailment.

Penelope led the way through the corridors and every now and then they would pass a random crew member or armsmen to which they would nod at the xenologist before continuing on. Thomas however, they paid no heed.

If there was one thing Thomas was curious about, it was that almost every crew member he was wasn't completely...human. Whereas Penelope, Gricus, and Inquisitor Landa were not shrouded or covered in machinery, almost every person they passed had half their face missing or an arm or limb. Then he remembered, of course, Sister Ortencia had been slightly augmented! Or was that just removable?

Thomas didn't know, but to him, these crew members looked like they had truly lost part of their flesh and replaced them with augmented limbs or eyes. In truth, it didn't exactly bother him, and he did not know why it didn't. Perhaps it was because he hadn't noticed the bionics on Sister Ortencia's face or hands that he had quite simply...not cared.

He was shaken from his thoughts by the placement of Penelope's hand on his back as they continued walking-passing closed doors and the occasional open one where people would either be lounging or talking with each other-nothing too spectacular to draw his attention away from walking.

"We'll visit Gricus first. Inquisitor Landa has granted us permission to take you under our guidance for the time being." she said.

"Time being?" Thomas asked.

Penelope blinked and bit her lip for a moment before sighing and saying, "After we are through with our experiments on Kiliak, the Inquisitor will make a more...thorough judgement of you. There was little time for him to do anything really as you posed no threat to our mission but take head Thomas, he will be articulate in his judgement of you. How you act for the next thirty or forty days or so will tell him whether or not you can be trusted to stay with us."

She knew this talk would come very soon so she held Thomas back by the shoulder and moved in front of him to kneel before him. Penelope looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Thomas...I know that this must be hard for you, not remembering anything of your past life before you found you but appear more than capable of understanding circumstances. Thomas, where our ship is heading, our whole mission...you can never discuss this with anyone but me, Gricus, and the Inquisitor...is that understood?"

At first Penelope thought that she may have thrust too much information upon him, and that his amnesia would have left him with no common sense or ability to understand her words. Thomas was silent as he blinked at her.

Penelope grabbed a more firm hold on his shoulders and asked sternly, "Is that understood Thomas?"

Thomas nodded once, "I understand. I will...be silent."

The woman breathed a sigh of relief as he added those last too words, he truly was more intelligent than any of them thought, its a shame he knew nothing but his words before he found her. She could not believe that the Inquisitor had been so lenient, she only remembered him as the charming cold-blooded killer of the Holy Inquisition. Thomas could not hope to comprehend the deeds that the seemingly innocent looking Benjamin Landa had done. She hoped that knowledge didn't come to him too soon.

Penelope smiled when she pointed to a door on the right wall that they were coming up to, "Ah, this is our workstation, Gricus should already be in here."

She motioned for Thomas to stand back as she raised her palm and placed it on a pad jutting out from the wall before leaning forward and allowing a black bulb to emerge from above the pad. While the pad ran a scanning laser over her palm, the bulb emitted a similar blue laser that moved back and forth across her right eye.

Thomas' heart leaped in his chest and he blinked as he rubbed his eyes but when he was done, the door was already opening and Penelope motioned him in. He followed Penelope inside and as soon as he was within two feet of the interior of the room, the door slid closed behind him. The only light was coming from the middle of the room, where a great big globe of blue light was emanating from the top of a table. Gricus was leaning his hands against the table when he saw Penelope and Thomas enter.

Gricus and Penelope came together while Thomas simply walked forward, drawn to the holographic projection of what looked like a planet and two moons, with one noticeably larger than the other. They were rotating in place and floating about a half a foot above the table with a square grid pattern making up their exterior surfaces.

"Hello to you Thomas, rest up a bit?" Gricus asked as he and Penelope broke apart. Thomas blinked and looked between the projection of the planet and Gricus rapidly before settling on the couple.

Thomas cleared his throat and said, "Yes...I feel much...better."

"Good to hear you're up on your feet." Gricus said and then raised an eyebrow when Thomas looked back to the project as soon as he had gotten done talking. The boy seemed completely transfixed by the projection.

"Say hello to the world the Eldar call Kiliak." Gricus said, smiling and looking quite pleased with himself.

"Eldar? Kili..Kiliak?" Thomas asked aloud, only turning his head halfway and keeping his eyes on the projection.

Penelope whispered some words into Gricus' ear and he nodded, "Oh. Right...amnesia." Gricus gestured over to the far wall where a couple of chairs were leaning up against the wall, "Take a seat Thomas, I'll start from the beginning. There's much more you probably need to...catch up on, but for the mission we're on right now, I'll explain everything you need to know."

Thomas nodded as he walked over to the wall and pulled out a chair and sat down in it about a couple feet or so from the table that was emitting the projection of the planet and its moons.

"This...is the planet known only to us as Kiliak. It is part desert, part tropical and varying landmasses contain those two environments...with me so far?" Gricus asked to which Thomas nodded.

"As of now the only inhabitants on this planet are our preliminary research teams conducting a series of archaeological digs at our base camp here." Gricus said and with seemingly whisk of his hands, an area in the northern hemisphere of the planet was zoomed in on the blue hologram. The environment became three-dimensional as Thomas rose slightly from his chair to get a better view.

"The planet appears to be abandoned, hence why we are even here in the first place. We did extensive...searches of the area to make sure before we began our research." Penelope added and looked at Gricus.

"You mentioned...research...what...research?" Thomas asked, looking between the two.

Gricus answered immediately, "Kiliak was never a human world Thomas. No human but our teams and the Inquisitor has ever stepped foot on it. It is an _alien _world formerly belonging to the aliens known as the Eldar...I will get to them later." The xenologist seemed intent on explaining the purpose for their mission.

Gricus pointed at the hologram of the base camp and immediately a red dot began to pulse where it was located as he continued, "We have known about this planet for some time and the Eldar seemed to not have taken an interest in it. No activity has been seen or detected in the last hundred years or so, therefore it has been marked for colonization by the Adeptus Administratum."

"You are not...colonists." Thomas said, once again looking between the two.

"So you know the difference...good." Gricus said as he pointed back to the hologram, "Tell me Thomas, do these structures look human to you?" he said as the environment reorganized itself into a variety of structures in the middle of the base camp. There appeared to be three arches in a triangular formation pointing towards the middle, where a large whole in the ground was evident. What took Thomas off guard was that there appeared to be something _beneath _the ground.

"The three arches and their surrounding auxiliary structures belong to the Eldar, the aliens I mentioned earlier..." Gricus said, referring to the column of metal diving deep underground, "...as well as these underground facilities."

"Human?" asked Thomas.

Penelope shook her head, "Remember what he said about no human ever setting foot on this planet before us?"

Thomas sank into his shoulders out of embarrassment.

The woman chuckled, "Its alright to be wrong Thomas, that's good. It means you're learning." she looked to Gricus and nodded for him to continue.

Gricus nodded and turned around to the wall behind him and waved his hand so that a screen which Thomas had not known existed came to live in the same color as the hologram as Gricus continued, "Now these Eldar structures dot the landscape across the planet, but there have been no signs of power readings or anything that would hint at life from them for awhile, hence they are scheduled for demolition when our work is complete."

The screen began pulsing red where these alien structures appeared to be located across the planet. Thomas cocked his head in interest.

"But our base camp is established a little bit on the outskirts of this area..." Gricus said and referred back to the table where the hologram reverberated into the original alien "town" as Thomas' mind referred to it.

"Why?" Gricus continued, "Because Penelope and I, as well as our Magos Explorator Eremis, whom I assume you will meet sometime later..." he looked to Penelope and she nodded, "...are here for something entirely different. The Inquisitor's other teams will be picking apart the Eldar technologies...can you guess what we are here for Thomas?"

Gricus folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

Thomas began to tap his fingers together nervously and his eyes scoured the holo table for some clue as to what the xenologists were here for. He had come to understand what a xenologist was-they studied aliens and most things about them, but if these...Eldar...were the true inhabitants...then what were they really here for?

He looked up at them and bowed his head in defeat.

Penelope chuckled and said, "Don't worry Thomas we're not mad at you...you couldn't have possibly known...which is why you will not tell anyone else...am I correct?"

Thomas nodded his head feverishly.

"Gricus." Penelope nodded for her husband to continue.

"Right." the man replied as he tapped more controls on the table which caused the landscape to again reshape itself to Thomas' wonder and awe. The environment seemed to invert itself and Thomas was almost tempted to turn his head to look right side up. Now the Eldar structures on the top of the surface were inverted, and there seemed to be something else now at his eye level that both Penelope and Gricus were interested in.

"What...is that?" Thomas asked, pointing to a horizontal strip of metal that looked a lot like what Thomas would say was...

"A gravitational-inverted facility. Completely separate from anything underground that the Eldar have built and almost completely devoid of power readings. From what we are able to read about with deep underground scans...it is its own city. The way we discovered that it was inverted was through some careful and precise calculations from Eremis...Emperor knows how he did it but he did." Gricus said.

"Not human...not...Eldar...alien?" asked Thomas.

"Yes Thomas. Good. Not human and not Eldar but alien nonetheless. Normally the Inquisitor would be much more concerned with these Eldar ruins, but soon, we will for the first time be able to access these new...ruins. Eremis' acolytes and drilling teams have made tremendous progress in drilling to the facility and advance teams have already explored of some of it but soon...it will be our turn." Penelope said, waving her hand near the bottom of the hologram.

With a couple more strokes on the table, the holograms that it was producing on its surface as well as the ones behind Gricus on the wall disappeared as the man tied his hands behind his back. He looked at Thomas and narrowed his eyes, "Thomas...what you are going to see few humans in their lifetimes will ever hope of seeing. Most die, others are oblivious...but Penelope and I live for this kind of thrill, to study a species that may have never been documented before. Something old...older perhaps...than humanity."

He looked to Penelope then back at Thomas, "As Penelope and the Inquisitor have no doubt told you. From now until the day you die, you can never reveal to anyone but us what you have seen, for the consequences will be..."

Penelope nudged him a bit.

"...Severe." he finished.

Thomas nodded his head rapidly.

"Tell me you understand Thomas." Gricus said.

"I understand." the boy replied and by the tone of his voice and the reemerging seriousness in his eyes, Gricus knew he was telling the truth.

"Good. Then you should be aware that we are arriving on the planet Kiliak within the next four days. How odd it seems that its not that far away from Yama Enda, where we found you. Hidden from sight all this time." Gricus said and Thomas nodded, but didn't really care for that. He was more excited about actually getting down to ground, becoming excited about what made the two adults excited.

With that, Penelope motioned her hand for Thomas, "Come, I'll take you to the bridge."

Thomas rose from his chair and nodded at Gricus, who nodded back and only a couple moments later, Penelope and Thomas exited the room, leaving Gricus to lay his hands against the holo-table and sigh. He reached up to his neck and felt the necklace around his neck and then traveled down his chest where he felt the small locket laying there against his skin.

He played with it for a moment before whispering, "We'll be home soon Tali."

* * *

"Well I'm sorry you were unable to see the bridge or Eremis, I don't understand why the Inquisitor has them both on lock down. He may be the Inquisitor, but Captain Tessa treats her ship like a baby, I wouldn't be surprised if he got an earful from her." Penelope said, scratching her head as the pair returned to the infirmary about an hour or so later after leaving Gricus' briefing room.

"It is fine. I will see them...sometime...right?" asked Thomas.

Penelope nodded, "Oh of course, as long as you're with us of course you'll meet close to everyone on this ship...I mean...everyone that want's to be met. The Devil Dogs are like their own fraternity and the workers manning the guns and various servitors may not be...ideal conversationalists."

Thomas simply blinked.

The woman chuckled and shook her head, "All in all...did you enjoy seeing the ship?"

Thomas smiled and nodded as he replied, "It was good. Helps me exercise...my body...and...vocabulary."

Penelope raised an eyebrow, "Well you do seem to be picking up things quite easily despite the severity of your condition. Tell you what, I'll bring over some books that you can read to pass the time until we reach Kiliak. Some are history, some are novels, but I think it would be best to brush up on _all _the vocabulary you're going to need in your lifetime.

The boy cocked his head and nodded as the doors to the infirmary opened, revealing Sister Ortencia close to the entrance by one of the beds. She snapped her head to the pair and narrowed her eyes.

"Right, sorry." Penelope said, she turned to Thomas and continued, "I will be back soon with the books, until then, just rest. You'll need the energy." with that she turned and walked away briskly as Ortencia hissed for Thomas to get inside.

Thomas fast paced inside and immediately began settling into his bed closest to the door. Sister Ortencia had already placed a couple of candles on the nightstands to his left and right, so it left him ample reading light.

When Penelope returned, she brought with her only one book, which she sat down on the bed and Thomas nearly jumped up in his bed from its weight. The pages were large and the cover very thick and Thomas grunted when he picked it up and placed it on his lap.

"That was the first book that Inquisitor Cade had me read when I served under him. It's expansive yes but its a very thorough description of basically...what my job is. The author is a surgeon in the Divisionis Biologis and he co-authored it with Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Enoch, another critically acclaimed author in his own right...I think you'll find this...tome...the most helpful of my library." Penelope said.

Thomas angled the heavy book up to the light and read its cover.

_**The All-Encompassing, Needlessly Large, Complete Anthology of Known Xenos: Commissioned For The Ordo Xenos**_

_**By Genetor Zechter Ganmor**_

_**With foreword by Inquisitor Enoch**_

"Sounds...comprehensive." Thomas muttered at the sheer size of the book.

"But..." Penelope raised a finger with a smile on her face, "It uses very simple language and even my unintelligible self at the time was able to understand it. Inquisitor Enoch made well aware that the people reading this book were most likely beginners, while the Genetor supplements with his own complex database."

Thomas looked up at her.

Penelope blushed and waved her hands as she said, "Well I don't mean you're unintelligible or anything of that sort its just...well now you know where I came from."

The boy nodded back as he opened the book, reading the publication information and running his hand along the first couple pages, covered in symbols of the Inquisition and the Magos Biologis.

The xenologist stood up and exhaled, "Well...I'll leave you to divulge whatever you may find in it...though...I trust you will be able to see past the biases of..." she stopped when she noticed that Thomas didn't even seem to be listening, just studying the introduction and the beginning pages. She shook her head, "I'll fetch you when we've arrived at Kiliak, we will be going to ground shortly thereafter. Get some rest as well Thomas and plenty of water...Kiliak is mostly desert."

At that point, Thomas did nod, but did not look up. Penelope nodded as well and promptly left as Thomas began to murmur the words in the foreword by this so called Inquisitor Enoch.

_...reading this book will do a young acolyte or interrogator a favor should he ever come face to face with a xeno. To this date from the very first mentions of first contact no lost to history, there is no such concept as a "good" xeno. They will take what they want, butcher the innocent, and blaze a trail of deceit and corruption in their wake._

_What is the Ordo Xenos...a question that only the select few ever truly know. Many may know the name and its functions, but this...this was a prize in the making. A culmination of knowledge unseen by other Ordos and sects within those respective organizations. Some may cry heresy but to that I simply laugh. Heresy...they keep using that word yet I do not think they know what it truly means...truly. _

_Regarding the contents of this book, you will find written battlefield recordings of an encounters, personal accounts from other Inquisitors, excerpts from interrogations of subjects, anatomies of dissections, and much more to quell the thirst for knowledge within the human mind. _

_Now that I have informed you of the contents, I would make you aware of the deep significance regarding chapters three hundred and six through three hundred and fifty one, which detail the disappearance of Inquisitor Herrod after encountering the xenos Eldar on planet..._

Thomas stopped reading the foreword at that point, he'd come back to it sooner or later but his mind itched to get on into the real contents of the book that the Inquisitor had told him about. He was eager to show Gricus and Penelope how much he had learned in the days leading up to their arrival at this planet they were currently heading to.

Sister Ortencia laid a tray with glasses of water next to him on the stand as he uttered a quick thanks before positioning himself against his pillows and closest to the light from the candles.

Thomas skimmed over the remaining contents of the forward, which took a surprisingly large part of the beginning of the book...fifty three pages to be exact, but finally he got to another page which reiterated the title. He turned the page again and found a sort of identification page. With some sort of heavy ink, someone had marked the upper right corners of both the otherwise blank pages with two letters.

**G.E.**

He blinked for a moment before exhaling, turning the page, and beginning to read.

* * *

It seemed like only a couple of hours in between reading this curious anthology and sleeping when Penelope returned, this time with some things in her hands. Thomas had to wonder if they had arrived at this planet or not.

"We have arrived in orbit above Kiliak." she said in a voice tinged with excitement.

_I suppose...that answers that question..._Thomas thought as he looked at the equipment in her hands.

"Get dressed, I'll explain everything on our way to the hangar." the xenologist said, her fingers almost twitching and Thomas did his best to through his pants, boots, long sleeved shirt, and heavy jacket on before she got even more anxious. It was then that he realized that the lights had come back on in the infirmary and the candles had been extinguished, Sister Ortencia seemed to be acting like everything was normal.

When he was ready, Penelope hurried him out of the infirmary and down a corridor while shoving two items into his chest as he was adjusting his goggles behind his neck.

"This is a shemagh, it'll protect your lower face and neck from the sand...these are some headphones hard-wired within an internal microphone and vox. We try to keep as much of what we need off of our backs as possible, we never know what we might encounter." she said as she began adjusting her own goggles and sand protection.

Thomas had to keep his eyes on her in order to make sure he had everything on correctly. After a few minutes of passing various crew members, they came to a larger door that slid upward to reveal the hangar, revealing the same Aquila landers that Thomas had first arrived on the ship in. He could see that more personnel were hustling around in between the Aquilas, and a different aircraft situated near the left wall of the hangar. Its wings were not folded like the Aquila's and were extended, its nose and cockpit were more defined and it had twin tails in the back that came together at the rear of the aircraft.

He shook his head as he walked a little faster to catch up with Penelope as she headed for the nearest Aquila and as Thomas got closer, he saw Gricus waiting at the end of its boarding ramp at the rear of its holding bay.

The couple began to exchange words near the corner of the aircraft but as Thomas took a step onto the Aquila's ramp, a series of strange sounds coming from the Aquila directly on his left and he turned his head to look at the source.

Standing in nearly the same position at as him at the opposite Aquila was a large red robed figure with mechanical appendages jutting out from the fabric of its back. The robe covered much of the figure and its hood prevented Thomas from seeing its face, but the fact that when it moved its hands he did not see any sort of skin or flesh...irked him.

The figure was facing some of those flesh machines that Thomas had seen accompany Gricus and Penelope on his awakening planet and was making a series of short, fast, clicking noises. He knew that the red figure was the one creating those noises by the tone coordinating with the moving of its metallic hands and appendages.

Then, the servitors turned and rolled themselves into the back of the Aquila, while the figure did not move as Thomas simply watched its back. Then it slowly turned around to face the bay of the Aquila it was about to enter, before it turned its hooded head and looked straight at Thomas.

He could not shake the feeling that he was staring directly into the eyes of something that wasn't...human...for its eyes were two bright globes of light that seemed to move clockwise and counter-clockwise at will. He could see only its eyes and nothing else as the deep shadow its hood created prevented him from seeing its face.

The robed figure looked away and entered the bay of the Aquila as the doors leaned upwards and closed behind it.

"Thomas."

Thomas watched as the Aquila's engines fired and it lifted off of the deck and it moved across the hangar until his own Aquila obscured his vision.

"Thomas."

Thomas jolted internally at the sound of his name and looked to see Gricus standing there on the ramp looking down at him with stern eyes. The two looked at each other until Gricus asked, "Are you coming?"

The boy nodded quickly and quickly felt his head to make sure he had all of his necessary gear before hurrying onto the ramp and into the Aquila.

Thomas felt much more comfortable sitting in the bay of the Aquila lander this time than he had the first time traveling to the _Wings of Dynasty_ when he'd first been brought aboard, in fact, he was smiling as he sat beside Gricus. Soon, the aircraft was traveling to the surface of this world called "Kiliak" and apparently there would be more right behind them.

"You kid, seem a bit too happy for someone whose had his head jostled around like a fraggin' scrumball. You know that?" asked Valentino.

The boy looked to the mercenary who was sitting the opposite of him two seats to the right and simply said, "I am happy."

The man rolled his eyes and muttered a curse to himself.

Penelope was sitting to the right of Gricus and leaned in to whisper, "Simply extraordinary...no solid memories...but all the experiences and words...so somehow he learned those things but..."

"-The instances of how he learned them are lost forever...He doesn't seem to mind." Gricus whispered back, glancing at Thomas whose eyes were scanning the bay of the Aquila as its engines flared and propelled it away from the Rogue Trader. The man looked back at Penelope with an entirely different look and said, "We are taking an awful risk love...to care for one child at long distance under our circumstances is hard enough but boy whose lost his mind is..."

The woman rolled her eyes to Gricus and leaned in, "Would you have abandoned him to his fate Gricus? To just...walk until he starved we knowingly could have changed his future with but a couple words...which we did...but...would you Gricus, if you were in my place?" she asked.

Gricus did not answer but he leaned back in his seat and looked at Thomas, who was still oblivious to their conversation. Penelope believed that the spat was over but just as she leaned back, Gricus leaned over and whispered, "I would have put him out of his eventual misery."

She blinked and looked him straight in the eyes, "Are we that inhumane Gricus?"

"When the galaxy around us laughs at the word, "humane"?" Gricus asked, pursing his lips.

Penelope narrowed her eyes, "So just because the rest of the universe is a hell hole, that gives you the right to be an uncaring individual? This is not the Gricus I knew less than a month ago."

Gricus replied coolly, "That was before we took him aboard." looking to Thomas, who appeared to be scanning the interior of the Aquila.

"The Inquisitor seems to like him." Penelope said, to which Gricus chuckled.

"You think that's an actual feeling? He's an _Inquisitor_ for the Emperor's sake Penelope...its his job to impersonate and deceive. To be honest with you, I have no idea why the Inquisitor doesn't feel the same way I do." Gricus said exhaustively, he crossed his arms but was drawn away from his frustration by Penelope's cool fingers as she brought her face to his for a kiss.

When they seperated, Penelope said, "There is something you need to do, and that something is relax. Thomas is smart, he's not a child, he's not some brainless bucket of bolts, he's a _human boy_ Gricus and all he needs to do is learn and he'll be back up to speed. He'll never get there if you keep putting him down thinking its going to help."

With that Penelope turned back to her data pad and continued inputting routines and processes for the remainder of the trip, not once turning to offer anything else to Gricus.

Gricus in turn took the time to think about what Penelope said...relax...maybe he was getting to apprehensive about Thomas. The boy certainly wasn't faking his loss of memory, it's just...

_Forget it, she's right...I'm putting too much suspicion into him and its affecting my attitude...I need to stop and focus._

The xenologist turned to his left and smiled at Thomas, who noticed him and turned to look at Gricus.

"When we get to ground, you stick with Penelope and I, you got that?" He asked.

To his surprise, the corners of his mouth lifted and Thomas smiled as he said, "Of course."

The ride down to the base camp was relatively quiet after that, but Gricus couldn't help but watch Thomas tinker with the transceiver on his arm and tuning the volume and frequency on his headphones. He lowered the microphone to his mouth in front of his shemagh and pushed around his goggles to get them on a comfortable setting.

Soon, Gricus could barely see Thomas' own skin anymore. He shook his head as he prepared his own head protection and made sure Penelope was doing the same. When the Aquila got closer to ground, Gricus could feel its speed leveling off and its maneuvering engines kick to life. He leaned back and looked out one of the windows and smiled when he saw the base camp situated below them bordering the palm forest.

The Aquila kicked up a great deal of sand as it came into landing and when it touched the ground, the Devil Dogs got up first as they would be the first out, something Landa had made sure of.

_Either Landa has put his faith in a bunch of low-life mercenaries, or he's trying to keep this all under wrap...good think I'm just good at what I do..._Gricus said.

The lander's struts hit the ground and its engines began to power down as the bay doors opened, revealing a vast amount of sunlight and a slow breeze of flowing sand over the surface of the ground. The Devil Dogs raised their autoguns and went out in pairs to set up a perimeter around the Aquila. A minute or so passed before Dartagan shouted the all clear.

"Thomas, turn your vox to frequency 100.9., I'll test it when you're ready." Gricus said as Thomas gave him an odd look before taking off his head phones. He looked at both cuffs and found that on the outside of the right one was a circular dial numbered by the tens to 200. He wanted to show that he didn't have to pester Gricus further by twisting the dial until he got just past a 100 and then slowing down after that until he assumed was the correct number Gricus had indicated.

He put his headphones on and adjusted the microphone before looking up at Gricus.

**+Can you hear me now?+ **the voice of Gricus sounded between his ears and Thomas jumped a little in surprise. This was the first time he had heard Gricus speak without seeing his mouth move.

The man let out a chuckle over the vox and said, **+Good.+**

Gricus put a hand on Thomas' shoulder as the two got up and walked out behind Penelope and the rest of the xenologist personnel. As Thomas and Gricus cleared the ramp, the former was immediately met by bright sunlight that shown through an unusual formation of dark clouds that were rolling through the sky. The ground was absolutely covered in sand as showed by the Devil Dogs, who had formed already formed a perimeter. A sharp breeze was whipping through the air.

Good thing he was wearing gear that covered his entire face.

**+Thomas, follow me, you don't want to be out here for much longer. The sandstorms are use inconsistent as they are deadly.+ **A voice came through to Thomas' ears, but it wasn't as if he was right next to Gricus-the man was actually talking to him through the vox that connected most of the team. Thomas tapped the right pad twice before adjusting his microphone by pinching through his shemagh.

Thomas saw Gricus standing a couple of feet in front of him motioning for the boy to come to him, and Thomas obliged as he moved away from the Aquila, whose engines fired up again and lifted off to head back to the ship.

All in all, there were between twenty and twenty-five boots trudging through the sand forwards. Thomas couldn't see anything even though his goggles were over his eyes and preventing the sand from tearing his eyes out, however, he did make sure to keep Gricus in his field of vision because the last thing he wanted to do was get separated in the middle of a sandstorm.

That didn't seem to be the case as the group walked at a steady pace towards the location of their base camp and when they reached the outskirts of the base camp, Thomas remembered that the camp was established in inside the Eldar "town" so as to offer better protection from the environment. Shapes that vaguely reminded him of the destroyed ones he had seen on the planet he had awoken on began to appear in the distance.

As they got closer, he soon became aware that these buildings were far different from those he had seen. They had numerous curves to them that made them look like more defined branches on a tree or a web of a spider with accompanying spires. Some of them even had bridges between them so that they could be more interconnected.

Thomas was in complete awe of them as they began traveling down down a street that allowed them to enter the town, it was as if no two of these buildings were alike and there was no way to categorize them. Then again, Thomas had only recently discovered that he was not alone in this galaxy. He had yet to see an Eldar and a deep shiver down his spine told him that he shouldn't rush to do so.

**+Thomas, this way.+ **came the voice of Penelope as someone split off down to the left when they came to intersection followed quickly by Gricus. Thomas assumed that this was Penelope and so he followed the two of them accompanied by the Devil Dogs behind them. Occasionally he would allow his eyes to wander to study the Eldar structures, but other than that nothing much really appealed to him.

They stopped at one particular structure that was smaller and wider than the rest, it had a circular door at the front which promptly opened outward when Penelope got close, much to Thomas' surprise. He stopped for a moment as Gricus followed her in, but he heard the voice of Dartagan come the vox, **+Get inside kid, this is the time of day when the sandstorms go _through_ your clothes.+ **

Thomas heeded the mercenary sergeant's advice and hurried inside.

Just as it had done for Penelope, the door opened but the Devil Dogs did not follow him curiously enough, however that was none of his concern as he pulled down his goggles and shemagh to look around the room while allowing his vox phones to fall around his neck. There were some personnel that Thomas had never seen before as well as those half human machines servants surrounding that same red-robed figure that Thomas had seen earlier. Gricus, Penelope, and none other than Landa were off to the right gathered around a make-shift table.

He looked around the room and was surprised to see its make-up and build far different than the interior of the _Wings of Dynasty_. There seemed to be more curves and arches that connected rooms where the ship had more cubical and right angle architecture. There seemed to be little light generated from anywhere but the field lamps set up inside, that's when Thomas noticed that there were no windows in this building.

_Eldar..._his mind told him. He'd been unable to read anything about them in the book that Penelope had given him. As a matter of fact, he hadn't even gotten half way through chapter one.

"Thomas, over here." said a voice that Thomas recognized.

It was the voice of Heidi, one of the other xenologists that Penelope had introduced to him while giving him a tour of the ship. She was incredibly kind despite the fact that Thomas had been visibly disturbed by the fact that her left eye was mechanical and glowing a blood red while the skin around it was horribly scarred. Thomas was trying to do his best not to let this show through his facial expressions, nevertheless, he made his way over to them.

Heidi along with Bartholomew (he preferred Bart), Gregory, Jonathan, and Yulia were gathered off to the side away from the robed machine and far enough away Landa and the married couple that they could not disturb either party.

"What do you think they're arguing about? Landa doesn't seemed too terribly pleased." Yulia asked, lifting her chin at the Inquisitor, who appeared to be angrily thrusting his finger at something on the table they were gathered around, it could have been a map but Thomas could barely see around them.

"Hush, it's not our place to intrude on that conversation." said Gregory, rustling his shoulders and long brown hair a bit. He seemed to be disturbed by Yulia's curiosity.

Yulia pulled back her hood and exposed her short blonde hair and blue eyes as she looked sternly at Gregory, "We're his followers and acolytes, don't you think that's a little bit odd that he's keeping us in the dark like this? He's never done that."

"You wanna be the first to ask him why?" asked Bart, leaning against the wall and folding his arms.

Thomas suddenly spoke up, "Why does the...Inquisitor...keep secrets...from you?"

Heidi sighed and shook her head before focusing in on him, her mechanical eye focusing and un-focusing in on him much to his discomfort. She said, "Remember when we first met, Penelope introduced me as someone "like her"?"

Thomas nodded.

"Well I'm not." she said plainly, "I'm not a scientist, I don't care about dissecting xenos or learning everything there is to know about them." she looked over at Landa and upped her chin again, "I'm an acolyte...or agent if you will...under him. I don't serve Penelope and Gricus unless Landa tells me to. I gather intelligence, I do reconnaissance, and I observe. I report back to him, that's my job."

The boy wrinkled his brow, "Penelope...lied?"

This time, Jonathan with the streaks of blue hair spoke up, "We know your story Tom, how they found you with your head fucked up and your memories shot to hell. Pen ain't stupid, she knows what exposing people to too much can do to the head. That's why she gave you teaspoons of information at a time, she didn't sit you down and interrogate you for days on end...probably what Landa would have done had he found you."

He continued, "She just didn't want you to see what was under Heidi's coat." he nodded at Heidi as Thomas looked at her.

Heidi opened her coat and Thomas widened his eyes.

Twin las pistols where holstered at her hips and a flurry of other strange devices were attached to her heavy vest. Thomas only recognized the pistols, but he could only assume that Heidi was no ordinary damsel, she was a fighter.

"Not so innocent as you first remember huh Tom?" Heidi smiled to which Thomas nodded feverishly as she laughed, "There are the rare times where things don't go as planned, and he's trained me well enough to defend myself...these other things are souvenirs that the dead don't need."

Thomas gulped but quickly tried changed the subject as he looked between each of the agents and said, "Landa did ask me questions."

"But your not his acolyte, you are Pen and Gricus." Gregory pointed out, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the couple, "I bet ya that Landa couldn't give a fuck about you, but the love birds did. We all owe Landa our lives in one way or the other, and he gave us the chance to follow him or..." he looked between his fellow agents.

Heidi shrugged, "Prison."

Jonathan scratched his head, "Saved me from a giant Ork."

Yulia laughed, "Pulled me up from the edge of a cliff above a nest of man-eating xenos."

Bart stretched his large arms behind his head, "Wrongful appointment to a penal legion."

Thomas looked at Gregory, understanding that Landa had made an influential impact on each of these acolyte's lives and was also the reason why they were here in the first place. Gregory nodded and said, "He made my parents a promise."

The boy blinked at the mention of parents.

Bart let out a throaty laugh and slapped one of his burly hands down on Thomas' shoulder as he said, "Don't you worry about a thing Tommy, we've all seen crazier nut jobs in our time and trust me, you're at the bottom of the list in terms of unusual cases."

That statement lightened Thomas' heart for a moment as he smiled, "Landa said something...similar."

"Well at least he's not suspicious of you or anything, he had trouble with Mules over here for a while, thought she was a behind the back black market dealer for a while." Heidi nodded at Yulia.

"It was a one time thing, we comprised." Yulia muttered and folded her arms.

"You five, with me." said the voice of Landa from behind them suddenly, causing Thomas to jump a little bit but not the acolytes. Heidi smiled and nodded a goodbye as they moved to follow the Inquisitor as he himself moved towards the spiral staircase behind them, he didn't so much as look in Thomas' direction. Gone was the charming man he had first met and his face was far more stern and critical than Thomas had seen before.

_I bet ya that Landa couldn't give a fuck about you..._Gregory's words rang through his head as he watched them disappear up the stair case.

"Thomas." he heard Penelope call and he immediately did and about face to walk over to the couple, while trying his best to ignore the bi-pedal machines, who were still making those rapid clicking noises.

Before Gricus and Penelope could say anything, Thomas spoke up, "Why is Landa angry?"

Gricus sighed and chuckled for a moment before replying, "He's an Inquisitor, its basically his job requirement to be persistent and get to the bottom of things very quickly, but for the both of you, this is the first time you've both stepped foot on Kiliak whereas before...someone else had been overseeing the operations."

"Who?"

Penelope and Gricus as the former pursed her lips and said, "No one of concern Thomas, what Gricus is trying to say is that Landa seems to think that going out in this sandstorm to the dig site is a good idea...when both of us have seen what it does to people." she shuddered for a moment before smiling and looking at Thomas, "However, they don't last too terribly long, and we have all the time in the world."

"Landa doesn't seem to think so." Gricus said suddenly.

His wife held up her hands, "Alright, its not like we're taking a year break then going down, we're going as soon as the storm lightens up. Eremis and his servitors will go before us however and oversee that the elevators and lifts are working properly."

"Who is Eremis?" Thomas asked, remembering the name from before.

"I am he of whom you speak of."

This time, Thomas did jump in complete fright at the mechanical voice that came from behind him. He whipped around to see none other than the red robed figure he had seen on the other side of the room. The man, or machine, or whatever he or it was towered over Thomas and was wider too. Its glowing white eyes focused in an out like Heidi's in the darkness under its hood and its extra appendages emerging from its back moved slowly, opening and closing, extending and retracting.

"Thomas, this is Eremis, our Magos Explorator. Eremis, this is Thomas, the newest addition to our troupe." Penelope said.

For a couple uneasy moments, Eremis looked down at the shivering Thomas before he said, "Your body is of prime condition. Give your life in service to Omnissiah and do away with the troubles of the flesh, for they hinder our connection to him."

"Who is...Om...nissi...ah?" Thomas asked, having trouble pronouncing the name.

The Magos Explorator's mechanical eyes reared back and the internal clicks coming from inside his robe suddenly stopped.

Penelope piped, "Uh Eremis? He's suffering from amnesia...you know..."

"Yes, I am aware of the fleshling problem." Eremis said before he leaned in towards Thomas as the boy leaned back. The explorator said, "My offer stands." with that he turned around and moved away towards the stair case, following the path the Inquisitor had taken followed closely by his servitors.

Once the machine herald had gone, Penelope breathed a sigh and said, "That's not exactly how I wanted you to meet him. He's a grumpy old bastard when he's working and delving into technology but there are sometimes when you can catch him in a conversational mood. Still, I think you'll be able to talk to him better another time."

Thomas was still shivering a bit from the encounter but he managed to nod his head in affirmation.

"Well we're not going anywhere until these storms calm down. I see you didn't bring the book with you, good, its better kept on the ship. Anyway, you are free to explore the first floor of this building and stay where you can see someone...just do me a favor Thomas..." Penelope said.

The boy hadn't needed any more instruction as he had already taken a few steps away when he turned around.

"Don't touch anything."

* * *

_You sure this a good idea sarge? I don't...I don't like the looks of this place._

_Quit your complaining and grab what you can, I ain't gonna listen to your sorry ass excuses when you tell me five days from now that you regret not grabbing stuff._

_Yeah, Dartagan's right man, this stuff will sell a fortune back on Sigma Draconis. I got the hook up on a guy who specializes in selling xenos artifacts. He'll pay us a fortune for this stuff._

_I don't know Gillian...I mean...these are Eldar belongings...don't you ever hear the stories about those crazy ass xenos? Like how they appear out of nowhere? Faster than a las-shot? Leave nothing alive?_

_Listen here Valentino, didn't you hear the Inquisitor? This place is abandoned. You read me? Abandoned, as in like...for hundreds of years. You think those good for nothin' xenos are gonna care about this broken establishment? I wouldn't. Like I said, ain't nothing here that anybody's gonna care about._

_How the hell are we supposed to sneak these past the Inquisitor then?_

_Don't worry boys, I've made a deal with one of the flyboys, he's gonna haul these gems up as soon as he can while doing a supply run when Landa's still down here. He ain't gonna suspect nothing. Of course...one of us is gonna be there to watch flyboy to make sure he doesn't get more than his fair share._

_You didn't tell me you were splitting with Crucio..._

_Well newsflash for ya dumbass. What? You wanna walk by Landa with a giant sack and say, "Hey Inquisitor, don't mind this giant supply bag that I just happened to carry down to the surface with me."_

_Fine, no more splittin' the profits without talking to the rest of us first._

_Done, its not like I was planning on keeping my promise to Crucio in the first place. Once this is all done and gone with, we'll just have to...have his little pet Valkyrie have an...unfortunate accident in-flight._

_I like the way you think sarge._

_I do too. Now, gather up what xenos tech you can and let's get the fuck out of here. We're supposed to be guarding the egg heads._

_Hey sarge...that...that gem on the wall...its...blinking._

_Don't worry about it, its just a light, its been doing that ever since we came in here and I can't pull it out of the wall. Just grab your stuff and pile it in, you got that Val?_

_Ya...I got you sarge...its just...never mind._


	10. The Pyre of Kiliak's Bane Part 1

The tires of the eight-wheeler screeched to a halt as the sand blew gently across the air, definitely not as hard as last morning but enough so that Penelope had ordered Thomas to cover up completely. His polarized goggles were down over his eyes and a helmet covered the top of his head while the shemagh allowed him to breath normally. Penelope and Gricus, as well as other members of their xenologist troupe wore similar attire.

As they got up, Thomas noticed Eremis and his machine acolytes pull up on their right in a similar truck, his red robes standing out even in the low visibility. He would not easily forget the machine man's words to him, as they still rattled his spine. Nevertheless, he followed Gricus in front of him and jumped down into the sand off the back, not sinking in as deep as before.

He heard Gricus call over the vox, **+The Inquisitor will be here any moment, let's be ready to head down when he arrives.+**

As far as Thomas was concerned, there was nothing around where the trucks had parked. They had left the alien town in the trucks when the sandstorm had passed and had traveled for about ten minutes before stopping where they were. Still, that didn't mean he didn't trust Gricus to not know what he was talking about.

Gricus and Penelope took point followed by their group and then Eremis in the back, Thomas made sure to keep well ahead of the man machine lest he say something else that unsettled him.

After a minute or so, Thomas learned that he was wrong.

Directly in front of him rose the form of a dome sitting in the middle of his vision and as he got closer, he saw that it was not as perfectly constructed as he first thought it was. It looked like a bunch of hastily slapped on a metal plates to an inner skeleton, then again, it sat right in the middle of deconstruction city, so it didn't surprise him.

It was big enough that it looked like one of those eight-wheelers could have fit in there but he did not voice his opinion. As they got closer, he could see a door a hatch outlined on the outer layer and that's where the group was heading. Gricus walked up to it and banged on the door twice before pulling back before knocking once, pulling back, and knocking three more times.

There was just the sound of blowing sand for a moment before someone could be heard on the other side working the locks to open it and then it suddenly opened inwards, revealing one of the Devil Dogs-Mags, the only female of their group.

"In. Quickly." she said, urging the the group of xenologists and machines in so that she didn't have to face the sand for very long. When they were all inside, she closed the hatch with the help of one of the other scientists.

Thomas realized there was no blowing sand inside so he pulled up his goggles and removed his helmet as he looked around.

In the middle of the dome was a sealed off area where a large fence surrounded the entire circumference in a large whole in the ground. Thomas couldn't see what was down the hole but he did see glints of grey metal and blue lights from the area he could see.

He heard Gricus and Penelope speak to their fellow xenologists, but the scientific language they were using didn't seem to appeal to Thomas, so he walked across the sandy ground towards the fence before standing on a small mound overlooking the hole and he realized that it wasn't even a hole. There appeared to be a platform in the middle raised slightly off the ground that was bigger than he first anticipated. The grooves along its base were glowing blue and it had a series of ridges lining its own edges.

He wondered what it was, as he looked to see a variety of personnel and to his surprise, Eremis and his machine servants had already gotten into the area and he was walking over the alien platform. Thomas vaguely remembered Gricus or Penelope saying that he had already been here before.

"Thomas, come on." he heard Penelope he call and he descended the sand mound to meet up with Penelope and Gricus, who had gathered around the base of a crane whose scoop at the end of its arm was hanging loosely over to the side.

He looked to Gricus as the man said, "Alright, the Inquisitor will head down first with Eremis and his detail and we'll follow immediately after. Remember...we're going down farther than any human has ever been down these ruins...so you stick tight with the main group and don't get separated...Emperor knows what the hell is down there."

"Indeed Mr. Vicar, and let me remind all of you that this is an eyes only mission, any details must only be shared with me." said the unmistakable voice of Landa. Thomas turned his head slightly to see the Inquisitor wearing a rebreather mask and a cap, so that his head was almost completely covered. He was dressed almost in the same coats and garb when Thomas had first met him but he did seem bulkier, perhaps he was wearing armor underneath.

Landa's head turned to catch each xenologist's eye, including Thomas' behind his goggles, "Failure to do so will result in most unwanted consequences, but I'm sure the Vicars have already informed you of that. Now, let us begin. Eremis!" he called out as he strode in between the group, causing the scientists to split in front of him. His acolytes-Bart, Jonathan, Gregory, Heidi, and Yulia followed closely behind him along with the Devil Dogs.

He saw Heidi give him a thumbs up as she passed, or at least who he thought was Heidi, he couldn't exactly tell with all of their rebreather masks and helmets on.

He closed in formation with Gricus and Penelope behind the Inquisitor and his group as they passed through an opening in the gate and ascended the final sand mound which held the platform at the top. The lights from the top of the dome and cranes surrounding the excavation site were providing the groups with plenty of light.

**+This area used to be completely buried in sand, took a long time for us to dig it out, but now...its going to be all worth it.+ **He heard Gricus say over the vox, and some part of him didn't exactly understand the xenologist's enthusiasm, but he could not help but agree in some sense.

When they got to the top, Thomas immediately noticed the large gray platform sitting at the very top, fitting perfectly at the top of the sand mound. It was not simply gray in color however, for a flurry of designs were etched into its surface emanating from the center, but with how close Thomas was to it, he could not gather anything from the designs.

One thing was for certain, it didn't look like the service elevators back on the _Wings of_ _Dynasty. _It was probably about thirty or forty feet in diameter, enough to fit a good amount of people on it for a trip downward. Thomas guessed by this point, with all the snippets of information he had been receiving, that this platform was in fact some sort of elevator.

He wrinkled his brow at that notion because he remembered the holographic scans back in Penelope and Gricus' workstation, wasn't the facility that everyone was so interested in far below the surface, and _inverted _as well?

Thomas secretly hoped that everyone knew what they were doing, down to the last man-machine servant of Eremis.

"Inquisitor, this platform has not been used in millenia, but unnatural power still flows through its circuits. Do not be surprised if you are dead by the end of your trip downward." Eremis said, who appeared to be working meticulously on a console sticking up from the middle of the platform.

The Inquisitor did not seem fazed by the morbid statement unlike his acolytes as he simply rolled his head in Eremis' direction, "Thank you for your input Explorator, I am well aware of the risks. Now, is it ready for use?"

The Explorator nodded behind his hood and said, "It requires only your command Inquisitor." he said as he bowed and stepped away while still on the platform. Immediately, the Inquisitor, his acolytes, and a good portion of the Devil Dogs boarded the platform with Eremis and his machine servants.

Landa walked around to the console, to which Thomas could barely see so whatever the Inquisitor was doing. The Inquisitor extended his hand to the console and held it there for a couple moments. Then a sound that emanated from the platform itself rose into the air as it dropped about an inch into the shaft before rising again and then beginning to fall.

The platform was descending at a pace that Thomas assumed to be safe, as no one seemed to be panicking out of fright or anything. The tops of their hands quickly fell beneath his level of vision as he and the remaining personnel walked up and peered over the edge.

Thomas' breath seized in his throat at the enormity of the shaft the elevator was descending. Blue lights ran down the step and illuminated the entire shaft and even the platform as it grew increasingly smaller in his vision. He was forced to take a step back in order to break his trance.

"Before you came along, the first time Pen and I saw that, we nearly fainted. Sure we've seen skyscrapers and such but there's a difference between looking up...and looking down." Gricus laughed as he patted Thomas on the back. The gesture didn't seem to curb Thomas' apprehension.

Nevertheless, he rose to his feet as Gricus called out, "Alright rest up everyone, the elevator should be back within twenty minutes so grab your gear and make sure all your equipment is checked."

It was then that Penelope walked over to Thomas and said over the vox, **+Vox?+**

Thomas patted his ears where the headphones covered them and then lightly adjusted the microphone in front of his shemagh. He then gave Penelope a thumbs up just as Heidi had done to show that he was ready.

**+Goggles?+**

He then grabbed the edges of his goggles before lifting them off his face slightly and then letting them pull back to his eyes again.

**+Water?+**

Thomas reached into his coat and pulled out a small canteen, lifting it up to Penelope to show that he had it.

**+Good, looks like you remembered everything. Now remember, you stick tight to Gricus and I alright? No wondering off on you're own. You see anything out of the ordinary? You tell Gricus and I first.+**

"What about...Landa?" Thomas asked.

Penelope blinked for a moment before turning slightly around to look at Gricus, who was speaking with his fellow scientists. She then turned around again to look at him and said, **+Gricus and I first. Is that clear?+**

Thomas nodded, "Yes."

For about twenty minutes or so the remaining teams remained quiet, trying to hide their anxiety and nervousness. What if the the elevator never came back up? What if the Inquisitor and his retinue were just bloodied splats on the bottom of the shaft? What if? While these thoughts plagued the minds of the xenologists, Thomas wondered about the base of the sand mound aimlessly.

His thoughts somehow drifting back to the man with gray robes, staff, and helmet.

He looked around the dome and realized how empty it was save for the people gathered within the fenced off area. Thomas wrinkled his brow at the thought of a dome sitting out in the middle of nowhere on an abandoned alien planet, who would have thought that he'd end up here less than a month or so after waking up.

Thomas had been resorting to calling the event "his awakening", when he had first come into contact with the mysterious man called Virgil and in that burnt out house. Virgil had then led him bloodied and tired to Penelope and Gricus, who happened to be scouring the nearby town for artifacts or trinkets.

He was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of something from the elevator shaft as he and the rest of the xenologists rushed up the mound to peer into the shaft. Sure enough, the platform had returned empty except for one person-Eremis, visible by the mechanical staff he carried and the top of his blood red hood. There were no blood stains on the platform and Eremis seemed to be calm, so they assumed the Inquisitor had made it down safely.

When the elevator came to halt with a scrunch at the top, Eremis spoke, "Come, the Inquisitor is waiting for us at the bottom. The journey was unhindered by anomalies, though...it is an experience that only fleshlings will truly feel."

Gricus looked to the Magos and said, "What does it require?" pointing to the console in the middle of the platform.

"Only your hand print. It will not recognize mine or that of my servitors. Distasteful contraption for it to deny Omnissiah." Eremis appeared to scoff before moving aside to allow Gricus to come up in front of the console. Thomas maneuvered his way around bodies to stand behind Gricus and look curiously at the console.

The polygonal console appeared to be generating a hologram similar in light and texture to the one Thomas had seen in Gricus and Penelope's prep room. There was a mirage of symbols and shapes floating around the surface of the console itself but its projection slightly off of itself-a shaking square type symbol, appeared to be activation device for the elevator.

Gricus hesitated for a moment perhaps out of apprehension, but he quickly overcame it. He looked around to make sure everyone that was there was on the platform before pressing his hand down on the console. The platform made the exact same sound and motions it had done when the Inquisitor had first gone down, before beginning to move down completely.

A shiver went up Thomas' spine as he looked upward towards the hole above him that was the top of the dome and its decreasing space in his vision. He then looked around to see that everyone appeared to sure his apprehension at this new discovery, but nevertheless found someway to occupy themselves as the elevator moved continuously downward.

Minutes passed with no occurrence as the only sound was coming from the elevator sliding smoothly down the walls of the shaft, which was in turn illuminated by running blue lights down its length.

After what seemed for a while, Eremis suddenly spoke up, "Brace yourselves for a sudden change of direction."

"What? I thought this place was inver-WHOA!" began one of Gricus' assistants when suddenly the elevator bottom out with everyone but the Explorator quickly bending at the change of gravity and suddenly the platform was now moving forward, or at least what Thomas thought was moving forward. The tunnel they were now in was far brighter than the previous place. The same running lights illuminated the tunnel at a greater intensity and pulsation, making Thomas blink in confusion as he looked back to Penelope, who shrugged her shoulders.

The process repeated itself multiple times, Eremis would warn them that the platform would be going up, down, and to the sides a couple seconds before it happened, earning him the scowls and angry faces of those gathered on the platform, not that he cared however.

Finally, as the platform appeared to be moving downward, Eremis finally said, "We have arrived at our destination. Omnissiah saves."

All Thomas could see in front of him was a wall of shimmering, unknown energy which according the voices of Gricus, Penelope, and their associates, appeared to be the wall between them and the outer tunnel, making the ride more smoother than it probably was.

Thomas couldn't hope to understand all this scientific talk, he didn't even know what he was good at yet. He'd only been awake for about a month now and so much had been thrown at him so quickly it wasn't like anyone expected him to catch onto something.

Finally, the elevator bottomed out once more and slowed down considerably, moving forward now a small tunnel with an end only about fifty or so yards away. To Gricus, it appeared to be some sort of terminal as there were ledges and walkways on both sides.

The boy squinted to see figures standing at the end, and he assumed that that was the Inquisitor and his retinue but when the platform finally reached the end of its path, Thomas wasn't concerned about the people that had gone before him but rather where he was.

Massive, was an understatement.

The dome that they had entered to escape the sandstorm was tiny compared to this cavern which looked infinitely times large than the steel dome they had found the platform in. Whereas the dome he had been in before was made out of steel, he could clearly see the outer edges of the mighty rock that marked the boundaries of this cavern, dug deep into the planet. This made Thomas ask himself how far they had actually come down, and how he was even standing up straight.

He could see that there was a large hole in the ceiling of the cavern filled with darkness, but a single ray of similar blue energy was shooting up into it from directly below it from the opposite side of the cavern. Thomas followed the beam downward but could not see where it was originating from, that was when he noticed what technically filled the cavern.

"Its...its...a city." Penelope mumbled, her eyes barely able to keep on one structure before moving on to the next.

If that was the term to go by, then the city had a multitude of ascending and descending pathways extending towards different geometrically sound structures that formed islands in between these pathways. Where Thomas had seen the curves and sharp edges associated with Eldar buildings, these seemed obsessed with acute angles to form their corners and barriers. Most of them shared a similar gray color that was noticeable even in the darkness and glowing with all the same color.

"Somewhat, but obviously not of anything the Eldar would construct. They worship their planets, they would not dare to dig so deep to get to this location." Landa said, walking over to them as the two groups reunited. The two groups came together just outside of the terminal, where a gigantic platform formed the landing for the terminal.

It was the Explorator who spoke next, "To add to that statement, the word "dig" is not appropriate term, perhaps "engineered" would be a suitable substitute. To be able to build so close to the core of the planet would require beyond simple shovels and excavation machines."

"We're near the core? Then why is it so mild in here?" asked Jonathan.

"Ask the dead xenos that built this place." the Explorator asked and turned away to speak to his servitors.

Landa turned to the assembled groups and clasped his hands behind his back, "We will intermix and split up. You have one hour to explore but you will stick together and not become separated for if you do, there will be no rescue for you. I do not tolerate stupidity. Am I clear? Mr. Vicar?"

Gricus nodded, "Understood."

"Good, activate your probes and keep your auspexes at the ready, this place may be a technological marvel, but that does not mean it isn't old. I expect a full report from all of you when our time is up." Landa said.

The idea of splitting up didn't seem to sit well with Thomas.

"Any questions?" Gricus turned around to face everyone, but no one piped up so he nodded at the Inquisitor. He motioned for Eremis as well as a couple of the Devil Dogs to follow him and they headed off towards a descending bridge toward one of the islands.

Everyone appeared to be splitting off, each following one of the many long bridges toward a base above or below their current position. Thomas looked back at the terminal before looking straight ahead toward the bridge that was directly in front of him that seemed to be the only horizontal one. It appeared to be extending towards the base of the energy beam that was pulsating into the hole at the top of the cavern.

Figuring that he shouldn't be of any bother to Gricus and Penelope while they did their jobs, he decided that he could easily find his way back if he was going back and forth. He took two steps towards the bridge before someone aggressively grabbed the collar of his coat.

"Where do you think you're going numb nuts?" joked Heidi as she pushed him towards another ascending bridge towards the northwest corner of the cavern, "With you walking around with that head of yours, I don't think Landa would be too pleased to have Gric and Pen complain about losing you."

Jonathan came up behind the two and laughed, "Exploring abandoned xeno cities ain't exactly my passion, but hey, when the love birds kindly asked to look over our newest member, how could I refuse?"

"Well we are the Ordo Xenos." Heidi said, keeping Thomas in between herself and Bart as they walked onto the bridge. It was clearly wide enough for more people and had large walls to apparently keep people...or xenos...from falling over the edges.

The burly man raised a finger, "Correction, you are an associate of the Ordo Xenos, the only one that_is _the Ordo is the boss."

Heidi turned to give the man a questioning look, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jonathan shrugged, "Just saying, unless you plan on applying for the interrogator position, mind you Landa himself will choose that, we're just hired guns, spies, and recon units. Then again, each of us has our debts to the man."

The woman didn't look like she agreed with Bart but she nevertheless found a common ground with what he was saying, she shifted her eyes to Thomas, who was walking a little in front of them and looking straight ahead. She couldn't help but feel irked at his silence and monotone but then again the kid had severe amnesia, Emperor knows what his mind was like now and before.

Heidi looked back at the sound of a tiny whirring noise and saw two objects pass over their heads slowly and settle just above just above her and Jonathan's heads but remain in front of them. Thomas looked up at the newly arrived servo-skulls but quickly looked back forward again. Heidi chuckled to herself, remembering that he'd been spooked by them earlier back on the ship.

"Ah don't worry too much about it Tommy, takes some getting used to." Jonathan said as he raised his eyebrows at the flying probes. Thomas however only scrunched his shoulders more firmly together and picked up his pace a little.

The rest of the journey across the bridge was met with relative silence save for a couple times when Heidi and Jonathan discussed the nature of their mission, but Thomas remained quiet, having nothing else to say. Finally after what seemed like a long time they finally arrived at the islands in the middle of the air, the three couldn't guess how large it was but it looked to be home to a multitude of different structures with what looked like streets and pathways in between them.

The trio stepped off of the bridge and onto the floating island itself, with barely anything to be heard but the humming from the servo skulls. They looked around to try and catch anything unusual but it was as still as it was quiet.

"Abandoned but...still gives me the creeps." Heidi muttered as she pulled open her coat to pull out her las pistols while the skull above her activated a red laser tracking dot and lamp stick in its eye as did the other one.

Jonathan shook his head, "You looking for something to shoot at? Seriously we've gone through tons of harmless missions and I swear you have to crack a shot off at least a couple times before you're through."

Heidi rolled her eyes, "I'll remember that when these actually come in handy, which will also be the day I save your sorry hide."

"Right...right. What? Can't sleep without em'?" Jonathan asked as he directed a skull towards the opposite edge of the island.

The woman turned to him and held out her arms, "What the hell is your deal anyway? I come prepared and what do you come with? Criticism? I don't see you bringing the big guns. What? Your muscles compensating for something small?"

This time, the man became irritated and smirked, "Woman, you don't know anything about me, you quit your complaining and put your damn pistols away, its only gonna make the kid more nervous as he is with..."

His voice trailed off as he noticed that the place Thomas had been when they first arrived on the island was empty.

"What the...where the hell did he..._uh oh._" Heidi added, frantically looking around.

Thomas was nowhere to be seen or heard.

"Oh...shit." Jonathan muttered.

* * *

Thomas figured that he would be less of a burden to Heidi and Jonathan's explorations if he set out on his own. Besides, he could spend an hour in this place and still come back the way he came without need to memorize paths and such. The terminal was still visible from the bridge landing anyhow.

He looked up at his surroundings and at these rectangular shaped buildings that rose from the floating city. None of the them appeared to show any signs of a door like the one he had went through in the Eldar buildings he had been through, which made him question if they were even buildings in the first place.

Nevertheless, he continued walking on the glowing pathways that made up the alleys between the buildings. Looking down, he saw there was a pattern of horizontal dashes on the far sides of the walkway that repeatedly flashed as lights ran up and down their length.

When he had been on the elevator not a half an hour earlier, Penelope had attached a cylindrical recorder to the right side of his helmet, knowing that he had been spooked earlier by the servo skulls. Now Thomas lifted up his goggles onto his helmet so he could see better in this dark environment, as the light generated from his surroundings was enough for him to see clearly.

He stopped and looked to both sides, having reached an intersection, but nothing caught his eye and he kept going. The alleyways were about four times his shoulder length apart, wide enough to accommodate more people, but for now Thomas walked alone. He knew that whatever he saw, Gricus and Penelope would eventually see, so he made sure to take in every bit of detail of these strange non-human ruins as he could.

Judging by the geometric excellence and relatively clean nature, Thomas wasn't sure that the term, "ruins", applied to these floating islands.

After a couple minutes of walking, Thomas began to sigh, he had yet to see anything interesting. He wanted to be able to show Gricus and Penelope that he could help, or that he had seen something worth investigating further. However, up until now that had not been the case and worry began to creep up his spine. Worry that the Inquisitor would not find him useful to the crew after they were finished on this planet. Worry that he might separate Thomas from Gricus and Penelope.

Worry that he might be alone again.

He shook these thoughts from his mind and pressed on, his head now swiveling and eyes darting to find signs of anything that he could examine further. It was only a matter of time before his perseverance was rewarded.

Thomas emerged into a clearing where many alleyways seemed to converge, and his eyes came to the middle where there was a glowing symbol being projected from the ground, or a raised platform perhaps. It almost looked like the one Thomas had just been traveling on.

His curiosity perked, Thomas cocked his head and moved forward to get a closer look. On closer examination, he saw that it was not just a symbol, but a series of holographic lights seemingly hanging in the air, coming together to form a representation of something.

He stopped when his toes hit a small raised wall a foot or so off the ground that seemed to encircle the hologram from below. Thomas stepped over it and into the position to see just what the hologram was showing him.

It looked like some sort of grid, a map perhaps? There was a serious of symbols each a different length away from each other all encased in a small five by five matrix of squares. Thomas blinked a couple of times because he had absolutely no idea what his hologram could mean, the only thing he could discern from what he was seeing was that it was similar to the ones on the ship.

Yet the ones on the ship did not use these strange symbols and at least he knew more about them than these alien technologies. Perhaps it would have been better if he had stuck with Gricus and Penelope.

Nevertheless, Thomas rubbed his eyes before once again peering up at the hologram standing still in the air just above him. For now, he assumed he knew nothing about it, so he reached up with a single finger towards one of the floating symbols.

To his utter surprise, it felt like water against his skin and the symbol flashed red twice before returning to its normal state.

Thomas blinked for a moment before doing the same thing again. The swirling symbol repeated its flashing as it did before and then returned to its normal light, again it felt liquid-like to Thomas' touch. He was bewildered that this hologram, if it was indeed a hologram at all, could actually produce a sensation to make him feel its presence. He checked to make sure his recorder was on and when he was assured that it was, he reached over and touched yet another symbol, a octagonal shape this one.

The process was the same. Liquid-like feel, flash red twice, and then return to normal.

He pursed his lips before moving onto the next one, and the next one, and the next one. Thomas repeated the process nearly ten times before finally coming to the last symbol near the upper left of the matrix, he shook his head before reaching out and touching it.

This time however, the yellow circular symbol quickly enlarged itself in front of his face while everything else simply dissipated. Thomas took a step back out of surprise and nearly tripped over the raised wall at his feet. He took a breath before looking back up at the enlarged symbol. The largest part of it was a circle with protruding arms and branches all connected back to the main circle one way or the other.

However, there were now five brighter yellow points glowing on the circle itself as it faced Thomas right in front of him. Thomas instinctively reached out and touched one, once again feeling its liquid-like nature.

Its color immediately changed to blue, while the other four points still glowed bright yellow.

Thomas looked between his right index finger, still touching the now blue point, and the other four. He realized that three of them were very close to his index finger while the fourth was down near his thumb. Something clicked in his mind that made him spread out his hand suddenly and allow each dot to be covered by either his thumb or other fingers. The dots now all glowed blue on the yellow symbol.

Suddenly, a low noise came to Thomas' ears that he could have sworn was coming directly from the symbol and the hologram dissipated completely. He jumped up at the sounds of metal moving and he looked out to see there ground was giving way in a rectangular shape off to his left.

It looked as if a long doorway had opened downward below the plane the floating city was situated in. Thomas' wasn't even aware that it extended below that point as he got out of the user's circle and walked over to the opening in the ground. It was far brighter down the ramp as it was lit with enhanced lights. Thomas shrugged his shoulders, rolled his neck, and descended into the heart of the floating citadel.

Thomas reached up to the left side of his helmet and turned off the small lamp stick attached to it as he descended down the ramp into the narrow but bright corridor.

The corridor seemed to be arms length apart and about a foot or so taller than the top of his helmet. It looked very clean as opposed to the dusty ground he had just been walking above on the level above, it was lit by a series of engraved dashes that pulsed light along their length before coming back and forth again, similar to the walkways above.

He soon came to an intersection and before he decided on a path, he lifted up his coat and opened a pouch on the inside of it, taking out a couple of small pieces of cloth and dropping them on the floor to mark where he had been. Thomas didn't mind going at it alone, he just wanted to be sure he knew his way back.

Finally deciding to go right, he continued walking, paying close attention for anything out of the ordinary. He came to another intersection and dropped some more cloth before continuing on. After a couple minutes of walking, he stopped.

Straight ahead about ten yards, the corridor suddenly went dark but even further beyond that, there seemed to be a half opened trapezoidal door. It appeared to be a multi-part door, because three parts were extending from the sides and the top but did not come together, hence signaling malfunction in Thomas' mind. A light of an unknown source flickered on and off, revealing and enclosing the door in lightness and dark.

Thomas cocked his head before dropping a couple more pieces of cloth where he stood and walked forward. He was interested if he could possibly get past that door or if it simply needed his presence to open fully like the ones in the_Wings of Dynasty_.

Perhaps this was his next big break, to finally find something that he could take back to Gricus and Penelope, and show them that he was useful. Besides, all they had to do was watch his recording anyway when this whole operation was finished.

As he stepped into the dark part of the corridor, he forgot that he hadn't turned on his lampstick. So when his left foot didn't touch down on solid ground, a powerful shiver of fear shot through his spine as his right foot dragged into the invisible hole in the ground. He cried out as he reached out for the opposite ledge but his fingerless gloves did not catch a grip.

Down he wen't.

Thomas screamed in fear as he felt himself drop rapidly before suddenly his feet hit solid ground again. He quickly shut his eyes as he breathed rapidly, trying to calm his heart that was beating so fast he thought it might explode.

His hands came down to touch the ground and he sighed with unparalleled relief when he realized that he had was crouching on solid ground. Now he could officially call this place ruins.

Thomas grunted at the pain pulsing through his ankles but he nevertheless found the strength to look up after a minute or so of calming his breathing. There appeared to be two very large corridors connected via a small intersection-one to his right and one to his left that were in many ways similar to the ones he had just been walking through.

There was only one problem.

Someone was occupying the one on his right, looking straight at him.

Thomas locked eyes with this person even though he could not see the man's eyes but the man could easily see his.

He thought he'd never see this man again.

His eyes grew wide and it felt as if everything moved into slow motion.

Virgil.

He would not soon forget the name of the mysterious man that had led him to Penelope. He did not appear any different than when Thomas had first met him less than a month ago, with the same domed helmet that covered everything down to his nose and long dull golden staff.

Thomas was completely mesmerized by the sight of Virgil no less than fifteen yards away.

Virgil suddenly turned himself around so he had his back to Thomas but stopped to turn his head slightly back towards the boy before continuing to walk and disappearing around the corner on the right.

Thomas uttered no words as he rose to his feet and began to follow.

When Thomas had rounded the corner, Virgil was disappearing around the next one down the corridor and he hurried to catch up. However the same thing happened again where he would catch a glimpse of the man before he rounded the corner. Thomas could not believe that a man walking as slow as he was could move so quickly, but he could not help but feel something was wrong here.

"Virgil! Stop!" Thomas called out as he rounded another corner but the man kept walking.

The boy was growing agitated when he finally rounded a corner which led into a straightaway, with no more corner for the mysterious man to disappear behind. However, when the man came into view, Thomas shivered and gasped as the man practically faded away into thin air near the end of the hallway.

Only to reappear closer to the end, and then disappear, the process repeated a couple of times before Virgil did not reappear again. Thomas' eyes were drawn to a light emanating from something at the end of the hallway. Suddenly forgetting about Virgil, Thomas' curiousness was peaked when he locked eyes with a small incline rising away from him.

There, shaking just like the one on the elevator, was a similar square-like holographic panel. It seemed reasonably like the one that Gricus had pressed his hand down upon to activate the elevator to get them here in the first place. Thomas took careful but sure steps to walk over to the the incline that seemed to producing the shaking panel. He remembered how Gricus had simply pressed down upon it and wondered if the man had not told anyone about what he felt when he did so.

Thomas looked up and around, but Virgil was nowhere to be seen.

The boy wrinkled his brow before looking downward and pressing his hand down on the holographic panel just as Gricus had done. It felt somewhat similar to his interaction with the map on the top level, but the panel stopped shaking and actually moved downward and became horizontal with the pylon projector below it.

* * *

_The Keeper has slept for eons._

_The Keeper as slept while empires have risen and fallen._

_The Keeper has seen the birth and death of stars._

_The Keeper awakens._

* * *

The area around Thomas was suddenly alive with the sound of moving metal as he looked up to see the sloped wall in front of him beginning to retract up and away from him and some lights began to appear on the wall and the retracting sheet as well.

He moved around the podium which held the holographic panel and climbed a small flight of stairs to the perch overlooking the area now revealed by the retracting wall.

Thomas' eyes scanned the vast open space that he could not gaze upon, but it just looked like a lower view of the cavern that this alien facility was hanging in. There appeared to be a massive amount of fog hanging a couple hundred feet below him and in the distance, the very far away rock wall that marked the furthest boundary of the spherical cavern.

To the northeast of his vision, he could see a very large tripodal structure standing in the middle of yet another floating city, except this was where the massive beam of energy was passing from beneath the fog, up into the platform, through the tripod and up into the darkness of the ceiling.

He could only guess what its purpose was.

His eyes were drawn down to the fog below him as he could have sworn he saw light ripple through its underside, but he could have been , his headphones came alive as the vox crackled with Heidi's voice, Thomas almost completely forgot about his two companions since he'd descended into the depths of the floating city.

**_KKKSSSCCCHHHas...ear meKKKSSSCCCHHH...Thom...KKKSSSCCCHHH...are you?+_**

Thomas simply raised his hand to his right headphone and adjusted the frequency until Heidi's voice became clear.

**+Thomas, are you there? Can you hear me? Where are you?+ **she sounded worried.

The boy smiled behind his shemagh and replied, "I am here. I'm alright. I wen't bel-"

**+You fucking idiot!**Heidi's voice roared between his ears, so loud in fact that he jumped a good couple feet into the air out of surprise. He blinked rapidly and put his hands on his helmet to try and calm the voice of the angry woman yelling in his ears.

"I'm-I'm-I'm...right...below..." he began.

**+That's a good fucking explanation of your location numb nuts. I swear when I get my hands on you-+ **Heidi's voice was interrupted by the intrusion of a much more calm voice.

Thomas welcomed the sweet relief of Jonathan's more relaxed composure, **+Don't sweat it Tommy, I've got your location on the motion tracker, we'll be with you shortly...and don't move a muscle...lest you desire Heidi to...never mind...just don't move.+**

The boy put a hand on his chest on tried to calm his racing heart as he realized he was shaking, he didn't believe he had done anything wrong, but he quickly realized that Heidi probably would have preferred him to stay with them rather than going off on his own.

But then again, he probably wouldn't have found this place, not without the aid of thought of Virgil caused Thomas to look behind him, towards the way he had come but the skinny man in simple robes was nowhere to be seen.

Thomas looked back at the wide open area the retracted wall had revealed and sighed, just a simple sight seeing balcony.

A couple of minutes later, a heard footsteps behind him and he turned around to see Jonathan and Heidi coming around the corner, the latter of which had her fists clenched and walking with a very powerful composure.

Thomas gulped.

"Now Heidi you really need to cool it, it's not like he wen't off and blew something up, he's just a kid." Jonathan held up his hands.

Heidi disregarded him, "A _kid _is the exact reason we almost had our first casualty. He could have fallen somewhere, got swallowed up, eaten, Emperor knows what could have happened and-"

Thomas held up his hands to admit guilt but suddenly the corridor was illuminated with bright blue light and Heidi and Jonathan put up their hands to shield themselves. The boy however was unfazed because he had been looking the other way but no less stunned by the emergence of this light.

He very slowly turned around just as the light faded.

Fear filled every part of his body as he cried out and stumbled backward down the steps and onto his bottom, causing him to wince in pain. Heidi and Jonathan were at his side in an instant, pulling him up by his elbows.

No less than a couple hundred yards away was a gigantic metallic cocoon floating exactly above the fog bank, which had breached from below when Thomas had his back turned. Thomas now new that the lights he had seen underneath the fog were not made up, he knew now what had been generating them.

This gigantic cocoon had a dome shaped head with a single gigantic hole near the top that looked awfully lot like a cyclops eye, the eye had inner rotating workings within it too, which had been what had spooked Thomas most of all. There was no denying the sheer enormity of new...thing. It was far away from where the three were standing in the lookout area, but it seemed to be looking straight at them.

"Time to go?" Jonathan asked.

"Time to go." Heidi said as they pulled Thomas to his feet and immediately rushed off back towards the ramp they had used to get down to Thomas' level. As Thomas was pulled along by Heidi, he stole one last fearful look at the one-eyed metallic cocoon hovering in the corner of the cavern.

He couldn't shake the feeling it was looking straight at _him_.

A couple of hours later, Thomas found himself in the back of an eight-wheeler heading back to the alien town. The combined teams had completed their work, but Thomas had not seen the Inquisitor or any of his acolytes after Heidi and Jonathan had dropped him off with Gricus and Penelope. They had taken the elevator all the way back up to the surface, but Thomas had not uttered a word since seeing the massive metallic cocoon emerge from the depths of the cavern, if there even was a bottom to the cavern to begin with.

Gricus and Penelope were talking up a storm with their fellow xenologists, giving Thomas no time to even share what he had seen. He had no doubt that Heidi and Jonathan would tell the Inquisitor what _they _had seen and how they had lost Thomas in the midst of their explorations, a shiver ran up his spine at the thought.

The sand storms had died down as the truck plowed through the lower dunes back toward the town, but Thomas could care less, his thoughts were amiss with images of Virgil, the holographic map and symbol, and the cocoon.

He drummed his fingers together but whether it was out of fear or apprehension, he did not know. He looked over to the Vicars and noticed they there were still excitingly sharing details with each other as well as the others, but Thomas wasn't paying attention.

He sighed and let his shoulders sag as he sunk into his seat.

When the truck arrived back at the town and they jumped out, Penelope directed Thomas towards the underground bunker while she and Gricus wen't another way.

The boy gave another large sigh and shoved his hands in his coat pockets, distressed and saddened that no one was paying him any attention. Didn't they realize the amount of visual data in his mission recorder?

Thomas reached up to his helmet and flipped the small switch to turn the recorder off as he found an entrance to the bunker near the center of the town. He passed by the three arching Eldar structures in the town center and noticed that some of the grooves in their structure had become partially illuminated, Thomas guessed that it must be either the xenologists or the Inquisitor's team that must be tinkering with it.

The underground bunker, or as Eremis had called it, the "Marvel of Omnissiah" was a network of tunnels and rooms underneath the town itself built years prior by Eremis' and his many machine servants, it was actually quite impressive concerning the half-man, half-machine's rather grumpy attitude towards Thomas.

He descended into the rectangular hole in the ground via a series of steps and soon was in the vast network of tunnels and rooms spanning the entire circumference of the alien town. Thomas quickly found his own quarters which he shared with many of the xenologists near the northeast quadrant. He passed no one on his way there and it only helped to dampen his mood.

When he entered, he found the nearest cot and kicked off his boots, helmet, and the rest of his attire before flopping down on the cot and quickly falling asleep.

* * *

_The time of emergence...is at hand._

_The boy...my forgotten son...if you were made aware of all of this...all that you are and all that will happen...would you embrace it? Or would you deny it. I will not ask you to forgive me for what will happen to you._

_I failed you long before you ever knew who I was. Humanity as a species...I failed it._

_What have I done?_

_No...I will make it right._

_You. _

_My son._

_Will help me do so._

_He may have torn through your memories. He may have caused you irreparable pain. He may be setting you on this path, but it is I that will guide you. You will never truly be alone, for even in your darkest days and coldest nights a piece of the Emperor resides within every human willing to accept him._

_For that is what the Emperor is._

_He is humanity, and humanity is him._


	11. The Pyre of Kiliak's Bane Part 2

**If I could get some new people in the review section, that'd be great. Come on...some of you who haven't spoken up have at least something to say...right?**

_***Crickets***_

_***Crickets***_

_***Crickets***_

**Guys...Guys?**

**Well...**

**Have a Merry Christmas you filthy xeno-loving heretics!**

* * *

**A few days later...**

Valentino was in a sour mood.

Not only had he had split his share of the Eldar loot, but apparently Captain Crucio had been having engine trouble with his Valkyrie, and so he, Gillian, and Dartagan had yet to get their prizes off world without the Inquisitor sniffing them out.

The eggheads had come back a little before the Inquisitor and his retinue, and they were currently held up in one of the xeno buildings yapping away at their findings. The Inquisitor and his acolytes had taken a shuttle back up to the ship, which made things even more difficult to prevent Landa from seeing what he and the others were doing.

The Devil Dogs numbered just over forty-five and Valentino could only imagine what the other back door deals that must be going on, he was certain about that.

"Hey Val, you there?" asked Cigo, waving his hand in front of his fellow Devil Dog.

Valentino blinked out of his zoning trance and looked down at his Tarot cards.

Not good.

_Throne of Terra, why the hell do I always get these useless cards?_ He cursed internally as he replied, "Yeah, just thinking."

"Well hurry your thinking up, we've got patrol in a couple minutes." Cigo said, referring to himself, Valentino, Howards, and Lance. Currently, they were in a midst of a game of Tarot in one of the Eldar buildings near the center of town. However, no matter how hard he tried, Valentino couldn't get rid of his nervousness concerning his share of the loot.

This Tarot game with a couple hundred credits as the pot wasn't helping.

"Forget it." he sighed, "I'm out" as he placed his cards face up on the table. That was followed by Lance's cheers as he had produced the most successful hand of the round, accompanied by Howards and Cigo's groans of despair.

They all got up to retrieve their helmets and autoguns just as the front door opened to reveal Gillian's squad coming in. Gillian took of his helmet and raised his eyebrows, "Down on your luck again Val? Better luck next time."

Val rolled his eyes, "Tell me about it. Whose out there with us?"

Gillian upped his chin, "Blue and Green will be patrolling the northwest and northeast quadrants respectively. Your squad as the southeast and Black squad should be up soon to get the last slice."

The man then narrowed his eyes, "Keep your eyes open, some of the Eldar tech on the buildings have been acting up, random lights coming on...you know, what usually happens with Emperor-forsaken xenos ruins."

Val pursed his lips for nodding, "Gotcha, alright lets move out Red." he called back to his squad as they passed their accompanying Devil Dogs, exchanging greetings before moving out of the building and into the open.

The sand was blowing across the surface quickly but not dangerously enough according to the Inquisitor to inhibit patrols. What the Inquisitor was so afraid of, Val had no idea because the only ones with the firepower capable of matching the Devil Dogs were the Inquisitor's followers, and they were always with him. Plus, the Dogs outnumbered them.

The mercenary shook his head and turned to the four other members of his squad, "Alright, you heard Gillian, keep your eyes open for any suspicious activity, Emperor knows what the Inquisitor will do if one of the eggheads does something brash."

"I remember when we were actually getting paid to kill." Howards grumbled as the squad began walking down a street.

"We get paid, and we get the easy jobs. I'm fine with that." Lance said.

Howards shrugged, "But I need to practice my aim against something, hell, I wouldn't mind some of those xenos showing up just so I can pump em' full of hot lead, won't that be something huh?" he elbowed Cigo.

"Yeah, never seen an Eldar before, heard only stories." Cigo replied as his head shifted from rooftop to rooftop. "Sneaky bastards. Pointy ears. Weird voices."

"Ha. Pointy ears." Lance said, and the squad continued on after that. Occasionally they'd split off on their own to patrol small alleyways and side streets but in the end they all came together and reported the same things.

Gillian was right, some of the Eldar buildings were beginning to light up along their grooves as well as the symbols engraved in them. There were some windows, and occasionally a light would flicker in it.

"This place gives me the creeps, good thing its getting demoed here soon." Val said as they came to intersection and he looked both ways before continuing.

"If you ask me, the Inquisitor's a bit paranoid, he's got all of us over here save for Mags and Butch and haven't even got to see something interesting let alone shoot it." Howards said as he shook his head.

Val laughed, "You wanna voice your opinion to Landa? By all means go straight ahead, because you sure as hell know what you're doing here. I don't need to...no...want to know what's going on here, at the end of the day we all get paid and maybe we get to shoot a xeno or heretic or something. Is that _so _bad?" he asked._  
_

Howards continued to grumble to himself.

Red squad continued their patrol of the southeast quadrant of the town undisturbed before Val came upon yet another intersection. He looked left and right and was about to give the all clear when his eyes happened to pass over the ground.

Val wrinkled his brow behind his goggles and crouched low to the ground, reaching out his hand to touch a patch of sand in front of was, undoubtedly, a footprint. Very fresh, otherwise the sand would have covered it up already. The pattern it had left on the ground was unlike anything Val had seen before, and whose ever foot it was, it was narrow.

"You seeing this?" Val asked his squad mates as they surrounded him, Cigo walked forward a little to confirm the trail in front of him.

"Strange, no ones in this quadrant but us." Lance said.

Howards spoke up, "Probably just an egghead out for a mid-day walk."

"The eggheads are supposed to be inside dabbling with their xenos toys. There's a storm approaching from the east and its about a twenty minute walk from here to their main HQ." Val growled as he stood up, "If we lose a single one of those eggheads to the storm, the Inquisitor will have our heads."

"Its not our fault they can't see a giant wall of sand approaching." Howards said.

"Correct, but it is our job to see them confined to their HQ, and one of them appears to think that our orders don't matter." Val said with a snarl to his voice, not once had he ever respected the egghead's (or xenologists as they liked to be called) curiosity and their tenacity to do things out of the ordinary. Hell, the Vicars even picked up am amnesic kid on that broken world and now he's walking around like he's part of the team.

Val turned around to his squad, "Split up and keep your vox tight on your ears, I want this egghead found and his ass back where it belongs...inside."_  
_

The rest of the squad nodded and they immediately split up as Val grumbled to himself and hefted his autogun in his hands. If the Inquisitor would have allowed him to, he would probably shoot the egghead once he got a hold of him or her, make an example. However, he knew that they were all to important to the Inquisitor's mission, whatever that hell it was.

The Red squad leader adjusted his vox, **+Tune in to different frequencies, see if the egghead has their vox on them.+** the rest of the squad voice their confirmation and soon they cut out from their joint channel. Val turned his meter to a different frequency and began to broadcast.

**+Attention all egg...xenologists...you are to be indoors in thirty minutes, there is a storm approaching and we will close all doors at 1525 hours with or without you.+ **he said.

He was met with static and odd sounds accustomed to vox experiencing interference, ever since these Eldar buildings had been acting up, it had become increasingly hard to get a full vox cast across and he thanked the machine spirit that it had held out to allow him to get that message out.

Val kept his eyes in front of him as he scanned the entrances to the main street from alleyways and conjoining streets on his sides. He hoped to catch the egghead trying to look down one of them to see if it was the right path back to his or her HQ. For awhile he walked alone and was becoming increasingly frustrated when his eyes just happened to move to the left.

And saw what looked like a black cloak disappear around the corner of a building just up ahead.

He looked down and noticed that the footprints were in the sand again, the same ones he had seen earlier.

"There you are." Val grumbled to himself as he took of jogging towards where he had seen the egghead round the corner. He came to it and immediately raised his eyebrows when the same black cloak was disappearing around yet another corner on the left hand side, this time he could have sworn he saw a leg.

"What the hell is with this guy? I swear..." he cursed as he opened up his vox, **+Red team, Red team...I've got eyes on the egghead about a couple yards away, looks like the bastard's lost. Converge on my position, over.+**

He was answered by static and a few muffled voices that he recognized but could not figure out what they were saying. Val shook his head and took off after the lost scientist, his frustration growing by the minute and he entertained the thought of simply making this particular one disappear, but he knew their heads would be counted at the end of the day.

Val continued to round corners, cursing to himself as he occassionally had to look down to follow the light foot steps in the sand before they disappeared, for all he knew-

Suddenly, a weapon that was not an autogun discharged, and light flashed across Val's goggles. He blinked for a moment as he tried to understand what he had just heard.

It sounded very close by.

Val broke into a sprint as he ran down one of the main roads, head turning to the right to check down alleyways when suddenly, the third one he passed, he saw something, or someone, lying on the ground. He ran over the prone form lying face up on the sand and his blood chilled when he saw blood pouring into the sand. When he got close, he stumbled a few steps back.

"Oh shit!" he cried out.

He recognized the body of Cigo instantly, but there were gaping holes in his face where it looked like someone had shot him point blank in the face, but there were too many and too little holes to be made by auto gun rounds.

For a moment, Val could only hear his own breathing as he knelt down near Cigo's body, trying desperately to figure out what could have happened, and who could have done this. It was all but certain that someone, perhaps the owner of the weapon he had heard fire, had killed Cigo.

Suddenly, his vox crackled, **+_KKKSSCCHHH_Yeah lead, I've got eyes on the egghead, the bastard keeps ducking around corners, pretty slippery if you ask me.**

Another voice chimed in, **+I see em' too, he's over near this broken down fountain, I just saw him go behind it, seriously these eggheads...+**

**+What are you talking about? He's over near these spiral shaped buildings, probably thinks one of them's the HQ or something. You're seeing things Lance, get your face out of the grass.+**

Val instantly barked into the vox, "Negative! Negative! Hold your ground! Stay right fuck where you are! Don't move! Cigo's down! Cigo's down!"

There was silence for a moment before Lance replied, **+Cigo's down? What the fuck? Who shot him?+**

**+Dead? What the...uh...Lead? We've got a problem.+ **Howards said in a hollow voice.

Suddenly, something near fired across the vox and the next thing Val knew, Lance started screaming so hard and horrifically that Val gritted his teeth and toned down the volume. Val screamed again into the vox, "Howards get back to base, move! NOW!"

He didn't wait for a reply from Howards or the probably dead Lance. He jumped over Cigo's bloodied body and exited the alley, taking a sharp right to run back down a curving street he knew would take him back to the center of town.

With his auto rifle in one hand and his hand on the vox in his left ear, he struggled to find the frequency of the Devil Dog's outpost, where Gillian and about fifteen other Dogs were probably inside playing cards, with no idea that one or possibly two of there number were dead. Questions flew this way and that through Val's head, one of them sticking out in particular.

He didn't want to believe it, he simply couldn't come to grips with it. Val wanted to believe that some egghead had gone crazy and started lighting up the place. If it was...

...there would be no saving Val from accusations of cowardice and downright humiliation. However, he again couldn't shake the feeling that something else was in this town all together.

Val kept running, his heart thumping in his chest at speeds only reached when in actual combat, yet he was running away from something. He hoped the Dogs back at the outpost would understand his warnings. That was, if he even reached it.

That thought caused Val to grit his teeth and pump his legs even harder under the weight of his body armor. The vox was still making awfully weird noises and he couldn't recognize a voice or anything on it.

He eventually passed a couple of landmark buildings that told him he was close, but the sandstorm was fast approaching in the distance and the sands on the ground were beginning to pick up speed. The last thing he wanted to do was get stuck outside while a unknown killer moved around somewhere with him. He preferred strength in numbers as opposed to valiant heroism.

Besides, he still needed to get his share of the xenos loot.

Less than a minute or so of running later, his vox sparked to life, more clearly than when he had first lost contact with the others.

**+All teams! All teams recall! Recall! To the arches in the middle of the town now! Move it Dogs!+ **came Dartagan's voice.

That couldn't be good.

Val had been running for a long time now and he struggled to catch his breath behind his face mask, it was almost like he was being continuously pushed into a small room as the air became thinner and thinner. However, he did manage to eventually run up along side four Devil Dogs who came out of an alleyway to his left.

One of them recognized him, but Val couldn't do the same.

**+Val? Throne, you look like you just ran a mile.+ **he said.

"Where's Dartagan?" Val gasped out.

**+Center of town, something's up with those three arches. Power fluctuations are off the chart, never seen anything like it. Dartagan's looking to get the eggheads to power it down.+ **the unknown Dog replied as the other three gave similar nods of confirmation.

Without waiting any longer, Val took off with renewed energy down the street. Sweat gleaming on his brow and fear pumping adrenaline into his blood, the question that had been swirling in his head was quickly becoming a reality, and he had one chance to stop it.

The arches were centered right in the middle of the town like any town square and was connected to the rest of it by three swirling streets that extended all the way to the borders of the town.

When the town center came into sight, there were a lot of Devil Dogs already gathered around the arches, whose various grooves and symbols were all lit up all the way to the the very tips on all three with bright blue color, energy crackled in the form of lightning periodically across their surfaces.

Val found Dartagan quickly by the red stripes running around both of the black uniformed arms of the captain, and because he was the only one barking orders to xenologist and mercenaries alike. He ran up behind the captain who was talking to a vox operator.

"Get Landa on the line, I need that persistent motherfucker's permission before I do anything." he said as the operator nodded, continuing the work the vox to raise the _Wings of Dynasty_.

While Val caught his breath, Dartagan heard his labored breathing and turned around saying, "Fuck...Valentino, where the hell were you? I ordered everyone here like twenty minutes ago."

He looked up and noticed that Val was alone, "Where's Cigo and the rest of your lot?"

"Dead." Val gasped out.

Dartagan's eyebrows wrinkled and his right eye twitched behind his goggles, "Come again? Did you just say...dead?"

"Killed, dead, shot in face, you name it...they're dead captain! We're all going to join them if you don't destroy those things!" Val cried and pointed at the three arches.

The captain looked back at the glowing Eldar arches before looking back at Val and laughing, "Looks like the heat is getting to you. Why don't you go sit this one out, we've got enough personnel here as it-"

"No! You don't understand! They're dead! Don't you hear me? DEAD!" he yelled as he placed his hands on Dartagan's shoulders but the captain reacted by spinning Val into a nearby wall.

Dartagan snarled, "Now you listen to me jackass, I'm not about to let your hysterics mess this up. Landa's orders are to not touch any of these xenos ruins save for the ones were staying in. Now if you want to go protesting to-"

Suddenly, the area surrounding the town square began to glow brighter. Dartagan realized this and he let go of Val to turn around towards the arches as did everyone else present. The sandstorm was getting even closer now, its roaring winds becoming louder as it approached.

The grooves of the arches were glowing more brighter than they ever had now and the large gems that dotted their surfaces pulsed red. Every human stopped what they were doing, even Val, to watch as three lights began to travel up the grooves of each arch. The small orbs were brighter than their pathways but nevertheless took different paths towards the tips of the arches near the center of the raised platform they surrounded.

The steps that led up to the top of the platform had their sand blown off of them by an invisible force as the arches began to glow along their entire length. The lights that had been traveling up their grooves reached the very tip of the arches and became glowing white spheres for a moment.

"Landa?" Dartagan looked down at the vox operator, but the operator shook his head.

Suddenly, the spheres disappeared and the tips of the arches each shot down a beam of blue lightning-like energy that connected in mid-air above the platform. The connection created a spark that looked like a miniature sun constantly churning and turning over itself.

Then, there was a bright flash and the spark expanded itself ten-fold to create a dome-shaped transparent sheet of glowing ethereal energies. No one present could possibly utter a word as they all stared on in complete wonder and amazement at what had just happened.

The only sound came from the human's own breathing, or the mysterious noises that accompanied this newly formed dome of energy. The sandstorm was but a mere memory.

Val's eyes were wide as he stared into the dome of unknown energy that had been created by the arches as it now encompassed much of the raised platform, it borders formed by the arches themselves. He squinted his eyes as multiple black figures began to materialize from within, contrasting deeply with the whites of the swirling energies in the middle of the energy sphere.

It looked like they were getting closer from a place he did not know. As the figures got closer from the middle of the sphere, arms and legs began to appear on lithe and figurine bodies, colors of white began to replace the black and armor began to form on what was once black nothingness. The quickness of their legs signaling that they were running. Flowing red manes appeared behind many heads, except for one.

This one was far large than the rest and before Val knew it, the figure burst through the now apparent portal and leaped with extraordinary agility into the air above the webway gates, throwing an object downward with unimaginable speed.

The object sliced through the air before anyone knew what was happening and cut clean through Val's neck and out the other side before quickly reversing direction and coming back the other way to its thrower through the space between Val's head and his body. The thrower was still in the air when Val's headless body hit the ground.

Next, the figure came down to earth with similar in-human speed and thrust a long pole-arm executioner down into Dartagan's chest as he had been looking up to watch the figure twist in the air.

Dartagan was dead before he even finished sliding off the end of the blade on the ground.

The figure stood up.

She was not human in any way, shape, or form for her speed and precision had proved that already. The pole-arm executioner she carried was as long as she was tall. Heavy midnight black armor covered every inch of her being and aesthetic red gems dotted it across her thighs and terrifying mask. The giant three pointed throwing star she had used to decapitate Valentino was back on her hip.

Her mask was bone white and had the face of a creature with a wide open maw and glowing red monocles for eyes. The headdress that was attached to her mask sported jet black hair as thick as forest undergrowth that was perhaps even larger than she was.

Horror and fear quickly grabbed a hold of the humans present.

With this in mind, the Storm of Silence raised her head to the sky and let out a piercing wail that split the air wide open as the sons and daughters of Asuryan poured through the open webway portal to exact bloody vengeance on Kiliak's would-be usurpers.

The Eldar had never abandoned Kiliak.

* * *

Thomas was sitting in the underground bunker fiddling with his helmet when he first began to hear the screams, and then the sound of auto gun fire. Immediately he felt a powerful shiver go up his spine like a heat wave yet it chilled his blood when he realized the screams were human.

Screams of pain.

There was something else mixed in too, it wasn't auto gun fire because it sounded like a more sleek version of gunfire if he had to put a description on it. First came these new sounds and then the screams. Then, a slow ringing in his ears began to build up and it was quickly becoming irritating so he gritted his teeth and quickly put on his headphones.

To his amazement, the ringing was still building and it was beginning to rise and fall in its tone and began to take shape into something attune to a scream, something that sent a chill down his spine. In his fright, he hurriedly pressed the keys on the table to make the hologram he had been looking at disappear and it soon did. He reached up to the right ear and tuned in the vox and immediately jumped at the sound of blood curling screams.

He recognized the voices of a few.

**+No! No! Please! AAAUUGHH!+**

Whenever he made out a voice in the static, it either ended in a dying scream or even more static as he heard more gunfire and that strange howling noise that was beginning to build up in his ears again to the point where he grimaced and put his hands over the headphones, to no avail. He strapped on his helmet, goggles, and shemagh.

**+Take them around****_KKKKSSSCCCHHH_****before theyAHHHH!+**

Thomas got up from his chair and gritted his teeth as he ran out the open door and into the corridor, where the noise subsided and he could relieve his headphones. However it did not stop the fact that his heart was beating very fast now from the blood pumping through his body.

**+This isn't happening! This isn't****_KKKKSSSCCCHHH.+_**

The ground rumbled as another concussive explosion caused Thomas to stumble a bit, this time much more powerful than the first. He looked to the left and the right and saw nobody and for the first time since he arrived on Kiliak, he didn't know what to do. Gricus and Penelope were nowhere to be found and the chatter on the vox indicated that confusion reigned.

**+It's them! Blast them!_KKKKSSSCCCHHHH+_ **came the voice of someone that sounded a lot like one of the Devil Dogs.

The boy quickly gambled and decided to run down to the left in the hopes of running into someone that could explain to him just what the hell was going on. The sound of gunfire both auto, las, and this new strange...sleek and shot sounding weaponry could be heard but it was generally muffled by the ground above him.

He looked ahead to see a figure running towards him and Thomas recognized him as one of Gricus and Penelope's associates. Thomas slowed down and brought up his hands but the man clearly wore a frightened expression on his face as he ran faster and quickly passed Thomas without so much as giving the boy a glance.

Thomas turned and watched him run back the way he had just come, confused for a moment as to why the man had not stopped. He realized that there was no point in following the scared man and continued to jog down the corridor, knocking on doors to see if anyone was in them while the sound of the gunfire was becoming uncomfortably close.

His heart began to beat faster as he could only hear his own footsteps in the corridors and his breathing picked up. He came to a halt at an intersection, looking to the left and right and wondered what to do.

Suddenly, the most powerful explosion yet shook the ground, forcing him towards a nearby wall. It was then accompanied by a fearful scream and then a very clear piercing sound of this new weapon discharging. There was only one way that he could have heard it that clearly, it mean't that whoever was wielding it was in the bunker with him.

A powerful shiver ran up his spine at that moment and he immediately chose to run straight, perhaps he'd come out to an exit topside so he could get a clear view of what was going on. He took a couple of twists and turns before finally coming to a flight of stairs that had daylight coming down from the top. Thomas sprinted up to them and quickly climbed them, doing his best to try and ignore the sounds of explosions and gunfire.

He hugged the side of the wall as he carefully crept up the side of the stairs but immediately ducked low again when something shrieked overhead, whether it was gunfire or something else, Thomas could not tell. The vox was filled with static and the occasional call for help but no one Thomas recognized, not even the Inquisitor. Where was everybody? Who was attacking them?

Thomas carefully stood back up again, enough to finally peak his head over the top of the entrance to the stairs and angled his head over to the left.

At first he didn't see anything.

Then, his eyes caught the motion of a lithe and agile figure bursting through the sand the swirling sand barrier about thirty yards away before leaping and disappearing behind a building.

Thomas' heart nearly stopped right there from fright, because there was not a chance in hell that whatever he had just seen could have been human. It was too thin, looked like it had flaming red hair, white bone white armor covering its body and was moving far too fast. It was in and out of his vision. His eyes grew wide as he shook his head and pulled his goggles over his eyes.

He breathed in an out very quickly and closed his eyes and counted to three, when he reached three, he quickly climbed over the final stairs and flung himself over the other side of the entrance, marked by a cement incline to the underground bunker. Suddenly, the cement exploded and Thomas cried out in fear as he covered his head as projectiles sang through the air at a constant rate, causing him to hurriedly crawl in the sand around the bend of the building that sat atop of the underground entrance.

He gritted his teeth as adrenaline pumped in his veins from the onset of fear. When he had cleared the corner, he struggled to his feet and simply ran, he ran as fast as he possibly could.

Gunfire, explosions, and a haunting howling noise were all drifting in the wind as Thomas found an alleyway right in front of him but as soon as he reached it, something whistled through the air and exploded in the corner of the building above him, causing him to dive into the sand again and he put his hands on his helmet as debris rained down on him.

Thomas got up even more quickly this time and ran to the end of the alleyway but stopped when he saw orange tracers being exchanged with blue and white tracers further down the road. The orange tracers followed the thuds and bangs of autoguns while the whites and blues followed the more sleek and pinpoint weaponry of an unknown adversary.

He had to find Gricus and Penelope.

He gritted his teeth and turned on the vox.

To his relief, he wasn't met with the pained screams when he had first turned it on. However, the static was still prevalent and inconsistent voices were on every frequency he switched it to. He constantly had to keep looking in front and behind him to check the tracer fire and heavy thuds of explosions in the distance. His heart beat increased with each passing second that he did not recognize a single voice.

Then, a stroke of luck.

**+To anyone hearing this message! If you're still alive we're falling back_KKKKSSSSCCCHHHH_point Veda, far east edge_KKKKSSSSCCCHHHH_town. We're getting the hell out of here! If you're not here in twelve min_KKKKSSSSCCCHHHH. _You're on your own! Gillian out!+**

Thomas recognized the voice of the Devil Dog's second in command and quickly got his bearings. Having explored the town already, he was somewhere right in the middle, and in the middle of the crossroads outside of the alleyway was a rundown fountain, which told him that he was currently facing south, he needed to go right out of the alleyway in order to get to the east side of the town, where he hoped Gricus and Penelope already were.

He gulped when he realized how far he would have to get in twelve minutes, about 1.5 miles. However, he had no time to delay and with his heart pounding and adrenaline pumping in his veins, he gritted his teeth and ran out of the alleyway. He could just imagine a chronometer in his mind slowly ticking away from twelve minutes.

Thomas found another street that curved around a corner and he quickly jumped onto the sidewalk, but the sounds of gunfire remained just as intense on his uninitiated ears as when he had first woken up this afternoon. He encountered no one as he crossed roads and passed through alleyways and he was becoming relieved that the sounds of battle were growing distant, however, it did not mean his concerns were over.

He saw a door on a building to northwest and bolted to it, its motion sensor activating as he came close and he entered from out of the whipping sand outside. Thomas had not been inside this building before and its interior looked as though it had not been touched by the xenologists, as odd looking tables and chairs still had dust and sand on them.

The boy bent over to catch his breath.

"S_ornas be'na __Hal-Najuthir_. _Mon-keigh denir._"

An inhuman voice sounded from just outside the building with such utter calm that it made Thomas' blood chill more than just hearing it. The voice wasn't human, no human had a musical tone to their voice, and that mean't it could only mean one thing.

Alien.

One-hundred and eighty seconds to reach the east of the town, which was only about sixty seconds away. Thomas knew he would be caught as soon as he ran out the other door, as the aliens were still inside, he ran into another room with his heart still beating quickly. He looked around for anything that might help him hide and his eyes chanced upon a tall door near the back of next room except this one had a knob.

Thomas quickly opened the door to find it was a very small, but just large enough to fit someone like him. Knowing that he had no other option, he entered and scrunched himself together while closing the door just as the door to the building opened and the unseen aliens entered.

They were still talking in their musical language, with obvious differences between them, which made Thomas guess that there were about three or four of them in the building. Thomas' heart was beating even faster now as he struggled to keep quiet, there was a bucket underneath his feet and he made sure his entire body was rigid to avoid making even a squeak.

The voices drew nearer. He had no idea what they were saying, for all he knew, they could be laughing at him.

Thomas looked down and saw light move in between shadows at the bottom of the door as their placeholders talked among one another just outside of the door. His breathing picked up before he finally decided to hold his breath.

They continued to talk as he watched the light shift constantly as the aliens did not exit the room, and Thomas was beginning to run low on air.

After a couple seconds, luck struck favor with him again as one of the aliens said something and he heard them move away from the room. A couple of seconds later, he heard the door open again and close behind the last alien, bringing silence once more.

Thomas took a large gulp of air and rested his head against door frame before quickly pushing the door open and to his relief saw that there was no one with him in the room. He remembered seeing a sky-bridge linking this building to another one across the street it stood over. Realizing that he was still within his time limit, he carefully exited the small room and closed the door quietly behind him. When that was done, he ran over to and bolted up the stairs.

He turned the corner at the top of the staircase, his heart pounding in his chest.

The person that he nearly ran into coming the other way was not human.

The boy caught sight of cloud white hair tied together in braid, a face partially obscured by a hood with too angular of features to be human. Narrow eyes with little light to them latched onto his and he quickly realized to his horror that they were not friendly in any way.

The robed female Eldar was less than a foot or so away, standing a full head and more taller than him. One second passed very quickly, faster than Thomas even realized that the Eldar was already moving.

A clenched fist hit him on the left side of his goggles, cracking the plastic across the entire frame and his vision cut out for a moment as pain flared across his face. He was then unable to see the Eldar whip her leg around in a powerful kick that connected in his mid-section.

Thomas was lifted off his feet with just enough momentum to send him crashing out of the glass window back first and down onto the sandy slope that had been building up the side of the building for some time now. The sounds of battle were more clear now as explosions and autogun fire sounded in his ears. As he rolled down the slope, he tried to catch his breath, but the Eldar's precision kick had unknowingly cracked ribs and gutted the air out of him.

He finally came to a rest near the base of the building opposite the one he'd just been kicked out of. Tears flowed from his eyes as he gritted his teeth at the pain pulsing in his chest and face. As he lay on his side with his back to the wall of the building, he managed to look up at the window he had just come from.

The Eldar's long hair was flowing out from her hood from a braid across the left side of her chest, but he could no longer see her face or eyes as the cracks in his polarized goggles made it too hard to see. What he could see was her raising a long barreled rifle and pointing it directly at his face.

The moment seemed to last forever.

Thomas' breath seized in his throat and his eyes widened farther than they'd ever gotten.

A fear unlike any other seized his spine.

As the female Eldar's finger closed in on the trigger of her long rifle, an autogun suddenly fired, spewing hot lead across the wall around the window and the window itself. The Eldar jumped back into the building and out of sight.

Thomas heard footsteps fast approaching as a hands grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to shakily to his feet. A voice that sounded a lot like Gillian's roared in his ears, "Get up! Get up! Let's go! Move your ass kid!"

The boy was shoved along and he realized that there was about fifteen Devil Dogs around them with weapons loaded, he did not recognize anyone else. As they started to run, Thomas stumbled after them, making sure to remain in the middle of the pack. They were in a long alleyway with Gillian at the lead, and Thomas ran ahead to make sure that he was near the man, perhaps he had information on Gricus and Penelope.

They stopped at the end of the alleyway with Thomas still hunched over in pain from his cracked ribs and hit to the face.

Gillian said to one his squad mates, "We book it to that building." he pointed across the street to a large spiral like building, "Some of the eggheads are in there, from there we regroup and get to the eight-wheelers. Understood? Crucio and the flyboys will pick us up in the desert."

"You sure you got vox contact with the _Wings_?" asked one of the Dogs.

Gillian nodded, "I raised them, I'm sure they know about us, let's just stick to the task shall we?" he said as distant gunfire caused him to snap to attention. Thomas held himself up on the opposite wall on the other side of the alley and simply struggled to keep his breath as he held his pulsing chest.

"Everyone ready? MOVE!" Gillian yelled and the Devil Dogs started running out of the alleyway. Thomas almost watched them go by before he realized that no one was going to hold his hand across the street, so he jumped at the moment as the last of the Dogs exited the alleyway.

Then, all hell broke loose.

The sleek gunfire that Thomas had heard before being exchanged with autogun fire was now lighting up the air around him. They looked more like flashes of blue and white light than anything but he quickly found out how deadly they were.

One of them impacted the helmet of a mercenary three or four steps ahead of them, causing a bloody hold to emerge in the side of his head and he dropped like a puppet that had lost its strings. Thomas covered his mouth in pure horror but kept running.

Another flash of razor sharp fire and one of the Dogs behind him screamed as his right arm separated from his body, but no one stopped to help him, not even Gillian, not even Thomas. The latter was too scared and horrified to do anything but run.

Some of the Devil Dogs managed to fire back at the enemy hidden behind a dust cloud at the far end of the street to the right, causing the unseen enemy to let up their fire to take cover. When Thomas and the mercenaries finally burst into the building and into the far back room. there were only seven Devil Dogs left, but they were quickly joined by some familiar xenologists.

"Thomas!" Penelope said, running up to him, recognizing him even though his face was fully covered. She placed her hands on the sides of his head and angled his head to look at her. She felt him shaking with fear.

"It's alright. You're gonna be alright. We're gonna get out of this together okay? Gricus is fueling the trucks less than thirty seconds away? You just hang in there okay?" she said in quick succession.

Thomas could barely lift his eyes, his coat was splattered with some blood from the Devil Dogs that had been near him. His body would not stop shaking. Penelope's left arm was bleeding and it was bandaged slightly but not completely. Dust and sand covered her face but even Thomas could have recognized it from a mile away.

"Hey, Vicar, we're moving. Keep up, I'm not stopping for anybody." Gillian snapped as he and the surviving Devil Dogs took positions at a back door at the far end of the room. Penelope hauled Thomas to his feet and the boy stumbled to his feet but nevertheless was able to respond, despite being severely traumatized.

Gillian looked to everyone gathered and said, "Two more buildings to go then were at the edge of the town. Don't stop for anything. Clear?" Everyone nodded and Thomas continued to shake.

"GO!"

The group burst out of the back door and into an alleyway between two larger buildings. Outside they were met with the sound of random autogun fire being exchanged with the sleeker alien weaponry. The once proud mercenary group was quickly dwindling down under the weight of a superior alien foe. The howling noise that Thomas had first heard was in the air again, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.

When they crossed another street, as they were all nearly crossed, the aliens began firing from the left and Thomas heard more people scream in pain from behind him. But Gillian had told him not to stop as he followed Penelope and Gillian into an adjacent alleyway. When they burst into a smaller hut less than seven seconds after exiting the last building, the group had dwindled to less than ten.

Penelope looked around and winced at her own pain before looking to Gillian, who asked, "How far?"

The woman nodded, "Just up the block, ten seconds at the most."

Gillian growled, "Your hubby better have those trucks fueled."

The xenologist snapped back, "I sent him there as soon as the Eldar arrived, he's not an idiot."

"Then why the hell didn't you just tell us in the first place? We could have gotten out of here minutes ago if we hadn't been out looking for others!" Gillian yelled angrily above the sound of gunfire outside.

Penelope replied, "You want to explain to Landa how his investments were lost? I may try to defend myself sergeant but I know I can't rely on myself to get me past the Eldar!"

Thomas was deaf to their arguing, his ears were ringing and their muffled voices were incoherent. He could barely hear his own breathing.

Suddenly, a window was broken by sleek gunfire and a bright light rocketed through and punched through the air towards the opposite end of the hut, exploding the wall at the end and throwing everyone to the ground. Thomas' hearing returned as his heart began to pick speed once more.

Then, something came arcing through the window, bouncing on the ground and coming to rest right in front of Thomas' crouched form. Thomas looked down at it, it appeared to be an oval shaped object with red blinking lights that were picking up speed.

"Grenade!" Gillian screamed.

Before he could even react, Penelope shoved Thomas away and screamed, "Run Thomas! Run! Don't look back! RUN!" and Thomas complied. He stumbled to his feet and followed Gillian out the back of the building as Penelope called from behind.

"Don't look back Thomas! Keep-"

There was a massive explosion from behind that threw Thomas to the sand but he quickly found himself being pulled up by the collar by one of the Devil Dogs. Confident that Penelope was still running behind him, he followed Gillian and the remaining group across a deserted street and around the left side of a building, where two eight-wheelers were parked at the curved edge of town facing the level sand to the east.

More gunfire was erupting from down the street and the howling was becoming more clear in the ears of those still living. The Devil Dogs took up positions around the two remaining trucks and immediately began pouring fire into the enemy.

Thomas rounded the back of the nearest eight-wheeler to find Gricus propped up against one of the giant wheels, a large bleeding gash on his leg was clearly visible and one of his ears was bleeding. He looked up and saw Thomas, but also looked behind him.

"Thomas...Where's Penelope?" Gricus gasped as he looked up at the boy and suddenly, the same thought came to Thomas. He looked behind him and then back at Gricus, behind him and then back at Gricus, but Penelope was nowhere to be seen.

Gricus' eyes widened and he again whispered loud enough for Thomas to hear over the gunfire, "Where...where is she Thomas?"

Thomas' eyes only wobbled as he replied, "She told me...to run."

In an instant, Gricus flew into a rage, roaring as he leaped forth, forgetting all of his pain, and pushed Thomas onto his back as he gripped him by the coat with teeth gritted hard. The boy cried out and shook with fear as he tried to get the man off of him.

"You left her...to die?!" Gricus yelled through gritted teeth and tear soaked eyes as he picked up Thomas and slammed him into the ground again and again, "You fucken coward! You're just a boy! Just a kid! You left her to DIE!" he yelled.

Thomas was quickly running out of breath when Gillian came to his rescue.

The Devil Dog came around the front of the truck with two others and slammed Gricus into the wheel to the side of him at the sight of the xenologist strangling Thomas. He then grabbed Gricus just as he had Thomas and yelled at him face to face, "She's dead! She's dead Vicar! I saw it! She saved our hides, and we're gonna join her if you don't get in there and drive us the fuck away from here! You read me egghead?!"

Gricus was silent with lips trembling.

"You read me egghead?! Get in the fucking truck and get us out of here!" Gillian screeched at the top of his lungs.

Gricus squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth before pulling out of Gillian's grasp and weakly climbing the steps into the truck's cabin. Gillian then grabbed Thomas off of the sand and said, "Get in there! You too!"

Gillian moved past Thomas as the latter stumbled up to the cabin's steps and climbed up into the shotgun seat, where Gricus was desperately trying to start the vehicle. A couple of seconds later, the massive truck roared to life just as the truck ahead of them took a direct hit to its gas tank and exploded and Thomas ducked to avoid any shrapnel.

Gricus was not so lucky.

The glass window directly in front of him came apart, and flung a large shard directly into his abdomen, causing him to cry out in pain as the gunfire and howling drew even closer.

"Let's Go Vicar! Now!" Gillian screamed from outside.

To Thomas' amazement and shock, Gricus grabbed a hold of the shard of glass and roared in pain as he pulled it out and threw it out of the side window. He continued groaning and wincing as the kicked the massive truck into gear and he angled it into the level sand. Thomas looked back out of the cabin's rear window to see Gillian running towards the back end of truck, only to be cut down by a precise shot of light through his chest, and he fell into the sand.

No one else had gotten onto the truck.

The gunfire and howling quickly drowned away as the pair simply drove into the sand towards parts unknown. Soon after the alien town past out of sight, Gricus began to cry.

Thomas turned to the man that was so painfully driving the truck as he spoke, "Thomas...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I...didn't mean...to."

The boy felt the unmistakable sense of sorrow hit him like a ton of bricks. Gillian had said that Penelope was dead.

Dead.

Dead...

_Dead._

"Did...Did she really...save you?" Gricus asked, turning his bloodshot eyes to Thomas, whose on tears began to fall into the cushions of his cracked goggles.

Thomas could only reply, "She...told me to run...don't look back...keep running...keep..." he looked up at Gricus and looked away and together the two men cried as the eight-wheeler continued its lonely journey into the sand.

"I...I don't what to...do." Gricus said as he looked down at the wheel and grimaced at the pain in his stomach, sometimes gripping the wheel with one arm. He looked down at his wounds and closed his eyes for a moment before looking back up.

Thomas was silent.

"Wait...there's...there's still...a chance...for you." Gricus said as he suddenly turned the truck a good ninety degrees to the left, "We'll go...to the dome."

"Why?" Thomas asked.

"It's..." Gricus gritted his teeth, "The only safe place...now." Thomas found no statement or reason to protest because he knew not where they were and apparently Gricus did. However, he got the dreading feeling that Gricus was quickly becoming weaker as the blood was soaking through to his coat and shirt.

After about ten minutes of driving, Thomas was amazed to see the shadowy form of the dome in the distance. He could have sworn it had taken longer to get there the first time he had come, but nevertheless he did not bring up these unnecessary questions.

Finally, Gricus groaned and let go of the wheel about thirty yards from the dome.

"Gricus!" Thomas cried and got out of the cabin and he was quickly met by the whipping sand blowing all around him. The sand was not that deep below his feet and he was able to make his away across the front of the truck to the driver's door. He opened it and climbed up the stairs and carefully helped the man out of the cabin. Gricus had no facial protection on and Thomas did his best to cover the man's face from the storm.

Together, they left the truck running and stumbled the last thirty yards towards the dome. Gricus collapsed three times on the way but Thomas urged him on each time, compelled and drive by fear and pain.

When they got to the large door that gave way into the interior, Thomas saw that it was closed.

Gricus yelled with what little strength he had, "You have to...open it!" Thomas nodded feverishly and placed his hands on the rotatory pegs and pushed with all his strength, but it would not budge. Thomas pushed and pulled as Gricus lay in the sand, moaning and groaning as his blood continued to spill. The boy yelled and screamed but he simply could not make the pegs move.

* * *

_The Keeper has watched._

_The Keeper has heard._

_The Keeper has understood._

_The Keeper has seen the newcomer._

* * *

As Thomas gave one last cry, the pegs began to spin and the door's internal works clicked and chimed as it gave way to the interior. Thomas quickly helped Gricus up and into the dome and out of the blistering sand storm. They then collapsed into the sand when they got inside and Thomas quickly shoved the metal door closed again, the dome lights were flickering on and off under the pressure of the storm.

"Come on! We must go down!" Thomas cried as he pulled the man to his feet again, Gricus stood wobbly on his legs as he held his abdominal wound with one arm and they made their way towards the middle of the dome. Thomas kicked open the fenced gate that separated the long elevator from the rest of the dome, Gricus' was becoming more heavy by the second as his strength weakened.

When they finally reached the top of the mound, Thomas was relieved to see that the elevator was still there, its control panel illuminated and shaking like he had first seen it. However, when they reached the middle of the platform, Gricus shoved Thomas away.

The boy was shocked by this notion as Gricus fell to his knees and Thomas came back to him.

Gricus coughed up blood and groaned as he held his bleeding stomach area but with the other hand he reached towards his neck as Thomas dragged his sleeve across his face to dry his tears. The man began to pull something up his neck as Thomas saw it was a chain connected to a small locket at the bottom.

He lifted it over his head with great effort and pulled it up in his right palm before extending it toward Thomas.

"T...T..Take it...Thomas...Please...Please give it...to our daughter." Gricus said as Thomas' hand came up to take the necklace and its locket. He looked down as the locket was opened and was surprised to see it containing a small picture of Gricus, Penelope, and the unmistakable form of a baby swaddled in white blankets.

Thomas simply held his palm open as tears continued to fall from his eyes into his cracked goggles, the word _death _repeating itself over and over again in his head. The blood leaking from Gricus' mouth emphasized this point, as more feelings of dread despair began to tap and chip their way into Thomas' brain. There was nothing he could do to stem the onslaught of fear into blood.

"T-T-Thomas...please...don't...w-w-waste...your...your life." Gricus sputtered and coughed some blood onto Thomas' coat, once again.

The boy gritted his teeth and let out a low cry.

"I...I...can't." he whimpered but he was immediately met with the touch of Gricus' hand on his shoulder. Thomas looked up at him and was shocked to actually see the man smiling through his bloody teeth.

"Yes...Yes you...can." Gricus said, his eyes fluttering for a moment for he groaned in pain. He gasped as he continued, "Her name...name...is...Tali...Tali Vicar...Find her...give it...to her...for us...for Pen...nelope." he said as his own tears began to emerge from his eyes.

Gricus lifted his hands and closed them over Thomas' fingers so that the boy was forced to close his own fist and pushed it back into his chest.

"Please...g-give it...to Tali." Gricus said as he used what was left of his strength to bring up his arm and slam it down on Thomas' exposed neck, causing the boy to yelp in pain and fall to the ground of the platform. Gricus then placed his bloody hand on the elevator's control panel, and it once again began to shift and generate its response noise as it prepared to descend.

He stumbled off the platform and fell to his knees on the mound, watching as Thomas cried on the floor of the platform. The pain now just as evident in his all too fatal wound as it was in his heart.

Gricus watched as Thomas disappeared beneath his vision, the boy probably had no idea what he was in for, but then again, Gricus himself could only guess. He gritted his teeth as he allowed himself to slide back down the side of the sand hill towards the fence, coming to a stop as he stared up at the dome's ceiling.

_I should have known, _he thought to himself, _I should have known they'd never leave their worlds abandoned. They were watching us the whole time...come to exact age old vengeance._

The only sound came from his labored breathing and the sound of the low storm blowing against the open door. The grip on his auto pistol that he found himself holding was alternating between grasping and loosening.

He waited there for the next couple minutes struggling to keep his eyes opened as pain flourished throughout his lower body. His legs were becoming increasingly numb as warm blood tricked out of his mouth.

Soon however, he realized that his vision was fading and everything was becoming slower, even the dull hum of the dome's interior was becoming harder and harder to hear as the portable lights installed in the ceiling continued to flicker. Gricus however, was none the wiser as he struggled to keep his fingers on the auto pistol and eyes open.

He begun to suspect that the Eldar were already combing the nearby area for him and Thomas, the aliens were meticulous like that. How stupid he had been to think that the Eldar would actually truly abandon a world to the humans. He'd met a couple face to face, some wished to kill him, some he actually held decent conversations with in carefully practiced Eldritch, but he never told Thomas or Penelope that.

Only the Inquisitor would have known.

The mention of Landa caused a renewed sense of energy to flow through Gricus. It was then that he figured it out, and he began to chuckle lightly as the pain itself began to fade into the background. Of course Landa knew that the Eldar would come, he's an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, its his job to get aliens to come to him, or hunt them down and this time, the xenologists had been pawns at the mercy of the vengeful Eldar.

To what purpose? Gricus would never know.

_Thomas is the only one left out of all of us...Landa is going to take him...and turn him into something else..._Gricus thought as he bowed his head slightly to acknowledge that statement. He swallowed some bile and blood as he thought..._Thomas...stay true to yourself...and now what the Inquisitor wants you to be...you are who you choose to be...not him._

The entire row of lights on the ceiling flickered off for a couple seconds, and then came back on. This time, Gricus was not alone.

Standing above him was the largest Eldar that Gricus had ever seen, and even he hadn't seen too many. This warrior was a female accompanied by two more similar to her kind on her flanks, yet she was far from the same. Fitting for these warriors to be female by their screaming calls and far from human agility.

This female had to be some sort of commander or leader, for she wore armor as black as the void and in her right hand was a bladed staff that was almost taller than she was. A three pointed razor sharp star was attached to her hip and a long narrow, bone white mask extended from the bottom of her face to far above her head. Black hair as thick as forest undergrowth and as long as she was tall extended from behind her head and curled downward towards the back of her legs.

Either these Eldar were really into deadly aesthetics, or some of this just seemed unnecessary to Gricus, then again, who was he to judge? The other two female warriors were smaller, both wearing bone white armor with differing symbols.

Gricus slowly raised his eyes up to look at this fearsome Eldar warrior maiden, but didn't really feel anything beyond straight loathing. When he blinked the fuzziness out of his eyes, he realized at the leader had tipped up her mask to reveal her face. Eyes with irises as black as midnight and skin the color of the clouds. Her long and pointed ears twitched slightly, being many times more sensitive to the environment that his own.

Oh how he hated it all.

Words couldn't describe his hatred for this particular warrior queen that had taken Penelope from him, and denied him the chance to see his daughter again. He raised the autopistol and pointed it directly at her face as she did nothing to stop him but simply tip her mask back over her face. Gricus pulled the trigger over and over again until the clip had emptied and the muzzle fell silent, each round bouncing harmlessly off the mask or armor of this Eldar.

He dropped the gun just as the Eldar leaned down and extended her hand-grasping his neck and effortlessly lifting him off the ground.

"Why are you here?" she asked in perfect Low Gothic. Gricus could almost call it human if it hadn't been for her musical tone to her voice. It didn't matter to him, it annoyed him more than anything.

Gricus responded by spitting blood over her arm. The warrior queen reacted by simply leaning in so close that her narrow slants that passed for eye monocles were less than a couple inches away from his own eyes.

"Sleep." she said.

With a quick and powerful jerk of her hand, she snapped his neck, and threw him to the ground.

The last thing Gricus thought about before the darkness enveloped him was sitting there in the studio on Velatonis III with Penelope and baby Tali wrapped in swaddling blankets as the artist carefully drew their picture.

And then, peace.

* * *

Thomas lay on the floor of the elevator sobbing as it descended once more into the depths in the planet, the only other sounds came it moving against the energy currents on the walls.

He remembered the smile that Penelope had given him when she put a warm coat around his shoulders back on his awakening planet. The way she and her husband held each other whenever he saw them together gave Thomas a feeling he didn't know if he'd ever felt before. She would giggle and laugh at his clumsiness and did not regard his amnesia as something to degrade him by. She was the one that had given him a chance.

He remembered how Gricus had taken some getting use to, his apprehension around Thomas understandable considering the circumstances but the man was passionate about his work just as he was passionate about his wife. The man's sheepish demeanor in the absence of work at shown Thomas that there was more to the man behind his strict ethic.

Both.

Gone.

Thomas clenched his fists and let out another sorrowful wail as the elevator changed direction as it neared its destination.

The ringing was still in his ears and human blood not his own covered his coat but it was the last thing Thomas could think of. He had only known life for barely a month and now he had see death and all its horror. The image of Gricus in so much pain as well as the dismembered bodies he had come across had become etched into his mind. The screams and cries for help only to be silenced by the unknown enemy were bouncing off the walls of his mind.

Minutes stacked on minutes as Thomas curled further inward, the cushions on his cracked goggles becoming soaking with his tears and his nose leaked part blood part other fluids. The elevator descended and changed directions just as it had when he had first come down not a couple days earlier. Thomas of course was in no mood to keep track of length or time, so wrapped up in his pain and fear.

He also didn't realize that the platform had come to a stop at the terminal, having arrived back at the subterranean city. Once again, all was quiet save for the hum of the eternally awake city.

Completely unaware that someone was watching him from the edge of the platform's track.

The man called Virgil stared at the sulking human boy, leaning against his staff with an emotionless expression to his face, but one could only see his mouth if they looked at him. He lowered his head and murmured inaudible prayers for the deceased before looking up at Thomas again, the boy curled around the platform's control panel.

He walked forth, his staff making low sounds as it hit the ground every two steps. Even though Thomas did not know who was approaching him, he did not seem to care or bother getting up. Perhaps he thought it was the unknown enemy coming to finish him off. Virgil walked onto the platform and stood over the boy, hearing his low cries and felt an enormous amount of pity for the young one. However, he could not help but shake his head, because he knew the boy would have to come to terms with what he had seen sooner or later.

Virgil looked up, opened his mouth to speak, before closing it, looking down at Thomas again. The mysterious man knew that the plan must be enacted if Thomas was survive in a galaxy filled to the brim with death and war. Its occupants continuously drowning in their own blood and that of others.

He wondered if the boy was ready.

In an instant, he knew at his core that it was worth the risk.

Virgil finally spoke, "Thomas...Tiberian...Aurelius...Julciad...Makeo."

Thomas didn't answer, and continued to cry.

The man looked around the terminal, "That is the name that was given to you was it not?" he looked down again, "Tiberian your grandfather and Julciad your grandmother. Makeo the name that emerged on the birthplace of humanity. Aurelius being..." the man sighed and shook his head before continuing, "Is that your name or is it not?"

Through the cracks in his goggles, Thomas turned his bloodshot eyes to look at Virgil staring down at him. He shut his eyes and curled further into a ball.

"Perhaps it was wrong of me to place you in this position so early into your awakening." the man said before taking a breath and continuing, "This galaxy is unlike the simple love story that existed between your caretakers. It is brutal, cruel, and dark."

Thomas reopened his eyes but simply stared forward.

"But there is a light." Virgil said, walking around the control panel, "I know how curious you are Thomas. I know that you have so many questions, some that may take lifetimes to answer, others that are within your grasp."

Virgil looked past to the tunnel where the platform had come, "I do not except you of all humans to accomplish much in the first months since you opened your eyes."

Thomas continued to cry.

"Look at me Thomas."

Thomas slowly looked up at the man no one else could see but him.

"What is your question, the one that has plagued you since you first saw death?" Virgil asked, his head tipping over to look at the boy more closer. It was a couple of minutes before Thomas swallowed his bile and choked out a reply.

"Why me?"

Virgil remained still before standing back upward, "Such is the question that many survivors are left with." he angled his eyes that were hidden behind his helmet down at Thomas, his ethereal vision staring into the boy, "I cannot answer this question for you Thomas."

Thomas, disheartened by the reply, gritted his teeth and squeezed the tears from his eyes.

"But I know who can."

The boy's eyes flew opened as soon as they had closed. Slowly but surely, he pushed himself up, lifting up his goggles and wiping away his tears before looking up at Virgil. His eyes still spoke of pain and sadness but nevertheless the curiousness was still there.

"Who?" the boy asked.

Virgil did not reply but turned himself around before looking back at Thomas and with a movement of his head, gestured for Thomas to follow him. With that, he began to walk out of the terminal.

Thomas looked down at his open hands and pondered whether or not to follow the mysterious man that seemed to appear out of nowhere wherever he wen't. If he had told any of the others about Virgil, he wondered if they might believe him, not like there would be anybody left to speak to after today. As far as he knew, Virgil was the only one he knew still alive. At that moment, yet another question pushed itself to the forefront of his mind.

Who _was _Virgil?

The man responded almost instantaneously, "A friend. That is who he is." and he stopped walking outside of the terminal, where the large platform dock split off into the various extending bridges connecting it to several floating cities.

For what seemed like the millionth time since Thomas had awoken, he had the strange feeling in mind that he did not know what was actually going on and was instead following the advice (or rather command in Virgil's case) of someone he barely even knew. Then again, did he _really _know Gricus and Penelope before their demise.

Thomas shook his head at the thought and struggled to his feet before getting up and looking at Virgil, who had half turned to him. He opened his gloved hands to reveal the locket that Gricus had given him, he sniffed once before putting it into a pocket on the inside of his coat.

Virgil spoke, "If you truly wish to know who is the one that holds the answer to all your questions, then you will put down everything and follow me."

There was not much else, if anything, that Thomas could do. He dropped his head, the weight of Penelope and Gricus' death still heavy on his mind and followed Virgil out of the terminal. His eyes scanned the subterranean alien city with far less wonder and enthusiasm than before as he still sniffed out the remnants of his cries. Virgil then turned and began walking onto the bridge that led directly ahead, towards the tripod structure at the far end of the cavern.

Thomas walked a couple of paces behind Virgil, looking down at his feet and by no means cheerful that somebody he at least recognized was still visible. Part of him wondered if he'd ever get back to the _Wings of Dynasty_, or sleep in his warm bed in the infirmary again.

"Will you...help me?" Thomas asked wearily.

Virgil replied without stopping, "Yes."

The word brought some relief to Thomas, but he wasn't sure to what end that would satisfy him. Sure, it mean't that the man would help him, but how? That was yet another question that came to mind.

Thomas was about to ask said question when Virgil spoke, "You must learn that not all questions will come to so easily." he then motioned for Thomas to walk beside him and the boy wearily complied.

It was a long way to the edge of the spherical cavern, so Thomas asked, "Where do we go?"

The man cocked his head at Thomas before replying, "Not I, _you_."

Thomas was taken aback by this.

Virgil lowered his head, "Do you consider yourself alone Thomas?" the boy blinked at him before the man continued while shaking his head, "It is something that few have come to terms with...how alone they really are in this galaxy in more ways than one."

He looked to Thomas, "I will answer my own question...yes Thomas, you are alone. You are alone in that no one else shares the difficulties that you do, having forgotten almost all that you are, and alone on the path to reclaiming or in some sense, rebuilding it."

"You are not alone...because there are others...both living and dead, that will point you in the right direction. Some of them have already done so, as their last act to ensure your survival...some may even do this unwillingly...but in the end, it is all according his will." Virgil finished.

"Who?"

Virgil disregarded the question, "You will go to a place where you may begin a path that no one else will take but you." he looked to Thomas again, "But I do not expect you to fully understand this until..." he inhaled, "...until things begin to take shape before you."

Thomas gained some sense of what Virgil was saying. True, he was the only one that he knew of that was suffering from a rare form of amnesia. True, he did want to meet this friend that would help him in finding a place in a galaxy that he now knew was brutal to newcomers. He just wasn't sure about how this would all take place.

He also wondered if he could really trust this mysterious man, who only appeared when Thomas was alone.

"For that, you are never truly alone." Virgil said.

Thomas bowed his head, flinching at the word that he so desperately did not want to hear anymore. Unbeknownst to him, he passed the floating city that he had explored a couple days earlier to the upper left. The massive metallic cocoon that had been summoned from the depths of the planet was gone, and a gigantic tunnel had opened in the cavern wall behind where it had once been, filled with light and track ways.

This, Thomas did not pay attention to as the pair continued walking across the lengthy bridge. For much of the rest of the way they walked in silence, with Thomas' head bowed and arms dangling loosely compared to the stoic Virgil. Despite the fact that he wanted to pour out everything that was on his mind, Thomas had a feeling that this man would either dodge them or throw something else his way.

This made Thomas wonder if Virgil was indeed helping him, but he had no choice, he could not go back.

After about twenty minutes of walking, Thomas had calmed down a bit but was not recovered in any way, he felt as though he was simply following a mirage, something Heidi had warned him happens on desert planets. However Virgil had done more than enough in his own mind to get Thomas off his feet and following him to the far end of the alien city. Thomas' eyes happened to look upward and he gazed up the multiple platforms above him and the utter darkness of the ceiling.

Suddenly, he realized that Virgil had stopped and he stopped as well. He looked back at the helmeted man who only nodded his head forward. They had arrived.

Thomas looked up at the massive silver tripodal structure that touched all points of the floating city it stood on. At the very base of the city was a plume of fire-like energy that was shooting up through the tripod and up into the ceiling, were the darkness swallowed it.

Steps led up to the middle of the tripod, where a ring marked the intersection between the tripod and three large structures that shot up vertically towards the ceiling. The energy flowed upwards between these structures.

He had never been so close to this structure before, his only explorations being in the floating city far behind him but it nevertheless seemed to him that whoever built this entire facility was extremely adept at architecture and engineering. Thomas couldn't begin to imagine what the facility's purpose was in the first place. He reached up to his helmet and felt his mission recorder, the switch still with its power on.

If he ever lived to see Heidi, Landa, and the rest of them again, he wondered what they would say once they themselves saw it.

"What...is it?" Thomas whispered aloud.

Virgil, now gripping his staff with both hands as if he were injured, hobbled forth and looked up at the tripod. He then said, "Something far beyond the comprehension of we humans." he turned to Thomas, "You ask the right question, but not the right person to ask it to." he then began walking up the ramp that would lead them to the steps towards the middle of the ring.

"But...I must...return." Thomas said as he caught up with Virgil.

"That may be so, but which would you like to have occur first...a question answered? Or a return to the galaxy that you have only recently become acquainted with?" Virgil asked, still not turning around, "There is no need for haste. We are alone."

Virgil's answer caused Thomas to stop and look back towards the terminal at the far end of the cavern. He could barely see it now, but he gulped and turned back to the man, "Who was that?" he asked.

It was an answer that Virgil reluctantly gave, "The ones that scream? The ones that nearly killed you? The ones that move too fast for your eye to see?" he shook his head, "They are this planet's caretakers."

Thomas looked down and continued to follow Virgil up the ramp as the man then said, "But even they are not its settlers. Too often both of us fail to look under out feet for both answers and sanctuary. Fortunate for you that you would receive both benefits." then the pair began to climb the stairs. The sound of the energy moving upward towards the cavern ceiling was not like the fire Thomas had experienced. Instead these ethereal energies were moving much more slowly and calmly than when he had first seen them from afar.

It only furthered his desire to know its purpose, and why Virgil was leading him towards it.

"If you have patience, the answers will be easier to find. If you are too quick and impatient, they will escape your grasp." Virgil said as the pair finally reached the platform in the middle of the tripod, which actually separated the three legs from the three structures jutting out of the platform towards the sky. Right in the middle was a large hole where the blue flame-like energies were slowly flowing upwards.

As the pair walked even closer, Thomas saw that there where in fact ring shaped metallic objects floating _inside _the energies, extending to the base of the platform all the way up until Thomas couldn't see them anymore. They were scattered however.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, they both stopped and examined their surroundings.

"You asked me...why it was you...that had suffer what just occurred. Why it is you that has survived, why it is you that I point in the right direction." Virgil said, causing Thomas to turn and look at him as the man did the same, "Should you receive the answers that you so desire..." he turned around to fully face Thomas, his hunched back forcing him to look up at the taller boy.

"You will not understand them immediately, not now, not several days from now." Virgil said as Thomas body sagged with the revelation.

But Virgil smiled, "But you can and will young one, in due time. Why, you ask?"

Thomas blinked.

"Because...I believe in your intelligence...Thomas." the man said, "I believe...in you." he chuckled, "This is coming from someone you barely know, whom you consider a stranger, but fear not boy for I am Virgil, your guide." he then lifted his hand and pointed back at the ethereal energies emerging from the base of the tripod.

The boy turned around and in an instant, his vision changed entirely.

_The environment looked as if it had been dipped in a sort of bluish-grey paint, the sky was a bit darker but not exactly a void like the vacuum of space. The wheat itself was duller in color but flowed just as gently in the wind as it did on any normal day. There were multiple trees that marked corners as well as beginnings and ends of fields and they too were blowing softly and creating a chorus of leaves rubbing together and branches bending to the will of the wind._

_He walked._

_He walked with no haste at all, no sense of obligation but with one direction. In his slow pace, he was able to extend his left hand down and feel the tips of the wheat brush up against his palm. Where the wheat may have been rough and coarse to some hands, his were hardened by sixteen years of hard work-making them formidable against most forms of irritation._

_In fact, the wheat felt delightful against his skin._

_He said nothing._

_He said nothing as the large gray walls spanning into both corners of his eyes came into view. His family's estate lay just beyond it seated atop a small hill with a barn on the lower slope of the far side where multiple narboars were kept along with plowing equipment. Again, there was no haste as he let the calm summer breeze flow over him and he basked in the broad daylight._

_In fact, even the sunlight itself was dull._

_He glided._

_He glided through the oceans of wheat that his family was so well-known for producing. Wheat was an essential product to Yama Enda's economy but it was not the only crop that was produced to feed the Emperor's hungry. He knew there were starving masses out there that needed each and every ounce of food he and his family could produce, and he made sure each and every day he ventured out that he would do his best to fill their hungry stomachs._

_He came over the crest of the hill he was walking on and..._

...walked straight off the platform and into the plume of energies.

"You will forgive me, but it was the only way." Virgil said, bowing his head.

Thomas had not fallen downward but in fact was floating in between two circular rings above and below him and his heart quickly began to beat as he realized that he could not get back to the platform. His breathing became worried and quickened as he struggled as the nerves across his body began to come alive with an unnatural sensation.

He called out to Virgil, "Help!"

But Virgil was gone.

The rings began moving up and down, for one was smaller than the other, increasing their tempo with each passing second as Thomas' body came alive with feeling, like he was being lit on fire but not harmed in anyway.

Then, he began to dissolve.

Thomas began to scream in fear as his gloved fingers seemingly dissipated into the ethereal energies as the rings became almost invisible as they had been moving so fast, the sound they generated becoming more high-pitched by the second. The dissolution started on his legs and quickly joined his arms at his chest and before Thomas could even widen his eyes in fear, there was a flash of light, and he disappeared from sight.

* * *

Somewhere deep in the desert, a circular glowing blue sphere expanded from the point of nothingness a couple of yards above the ground. Quickly thereafter, glowing particles began emerging from the glowing sphere and began to form the shape of a human as well as his clothes and gear before flashing once and recreating him once more in mid-air.

When Thomas opened his eyes again, he realized that he was actually a couple of feet above the ground..._flying_...and heading towards the ground fast so at the last moment he tucked himself in before he hit a dune of sand shoulder first. At least he hadn't gotten a mouthful. The pain pulsed through his shoulder as he groaned at the impact before pushing himself up with his other arm.

He shook his head for a moment before looking behind him.

There was nothing around him that hinted that this was anywhere near the base camp, or the slaughter house it had become. He laid there with his chest off of the sand for a couple of moments before pushing himself to his feet, nursing his bruised shoulder in the process.

He turned around and scanned his surroundings.

It appeared that wherever this...teleporter...had taken him it had transported him too a different part of the planet, where all he could see was the rise and fall of sand dunes and the blow of a storm over their crests. In the sky, the clouds were dark and rolling while pockets of sunlight broke through stubborn clumps.

That's when he realized that the sand was blowing over the top of the dune above him. He tightened his shemagh to his face and straightened his goggles and headphones before pulling the cap over the top of his head to prevent the sand from scraping away at any more of his head.

He took a step forward and his foot sunk in a little bit but not too far to where it disappeared, he took another step and found that he could keep his balance on the slope of the dune. Thomas continued this motion despite the pulsing and dull pain in his shoulder before he finally reached the crest and looked out over the horizon.

All he could see was simply sand. Occasionally it looked like the dunes flattened out into plateaus or tiny inclines but for the most part, it seemed he had gotten extraordinarily bad luck and landed in the middle of a desert with a slight storm going on.

_Thomas._

The sound of a familiar voice saying his name caused Thomas to look around for the person who uttered it. He turned around completely but could see no one except for the shadow against the wall of blowing sand off to his left.

Thomas suddenly turned back to the shadow.

It was a person alright, it seemed to be holding a pole in its right hand with a symbol on top and its body was slightly leaned over so that it looked like it was just this very dark and narrow upside down "U".

Why did the voice sound so familiar?

He cocked his head as the shadow came closer and as it emerged from the wall of fog, for a reason unknown to him, he did not run even though he had barely escaped his own death not a short while ago. Thomas took a couple of steps back in surprise when the shadow became whole and visible.

It was the grey robed man with the aquila staff and the strange helmet that covered most of his head down to his nose.

Thomas knew his name, "Virgil."

_That is I..._the mysterious man replied with a voice that seemed to break through the loud blowing of sand right behind him. Thomas wrinkled his brow because Virgil's mouth hadn't even moved when he said those words.

For a couple moments the two simply stared at each other before Thomas looked away, reminded of what had just happened.

_They rest in the arms of the Emperor, but do you? _Virgil asked, again his voice sounding so clear to Thomas' ears above the sandstorm. It almost sounded like Virgil's voice was coming from between his ears.

"Rest? I cannot rest." Thomas replied, turning back to Virgil.

Virgil shook his head and sagged his shoulders before lifting them back up, as if he had sighed, but he still did not open his mouth. Instead he turned and walked across the flat top of the dune to the side before stopping again and looking at Thomas.

_What are your intentions? _He appeared to ask.

Thomas looked around across the sand as far as he could see before the storm blocked whatever lay beyond it. He looked at Virgil and replied, "Return to the...ship. What are your intentions?"

If Virgil was surprised by his own words being thrown back at him, he did not show it as he replied,_To point you in a direction._

"What? Direction?" Thomas asked to which Virgil nodded.

_This way. _Virgil said as he turned away again and began walking down the slope of the sand dune to the right, curiously not making any imprint or movement of sand whatsoever. Thomas was perplexed by this.

Thomas pulled the hood of his raggedy cloak over his head as he thought about his options. Death had never shown its face in his mind until now, not the death of others, but the thought of his own death. The thought of dying of lack of food and water was a horrible way to go, his mind told him. However, he only had one option and he could bring no counter arguments against it.

The sandstorm blew mildly against Thomas' heavy cloak but he had already accidentally raised his head and his goggles had been whipped with sand before, so he had taken to walking with his head bowed over slightly. Luckily his hood was long enough so no sand could be whipped up from the sides to fill his face with stinging particles. There was not a part of him that wasn't covered.

Still he walked down the dune and followed Virgil as no more words were exchanged between the two.

He didn't know where he was and the worst feeling of all was that he didn't even know if he was on the same planet. The _Wings of Dynasty _was nowhere in the sky and by the way Inquisitor Landa had described its Captain, Thomas was sure that they were not out looking for him.

After all, most of the crew save Gricus, Penelope, and the Inquisitor's acolytes hadn't given a second thought towards him, why should they now?

_Gricus..._

_Sadness..._

_Penelope..._

_Fear..._

_Pain..._

_Ache..._

Thomas could not stop the tears from flowing down his cheeks onto the lower inner cushion of the goggles, where they were luckily absorbed by the cushions. The pain in his heart did not ease however and his dread increased when he realized it was far more than just a physical pain. Sister Ortencia had given him a clean bill of health not a couple days earlier, not that it mattered now with cracked ribs and a bruised face.

He had never felt this feeling before.

What was it?

How could he stop something that he had never felt before let alone experienced?

The fact that he didn't know if he had or not before he had...awoken...made his mind that much more tumultuous. His head was filling his brain with a thousand new ideas, words, and concepts each second and it took most if not all his strength to not just simply fall over and continue weeping. Luckily, he held on to Gricus' last words.

_Run...don't look back._

Thomas hadn't looked back once, not that it mattered because in the middle of this desert, it was highly likely that he was far away from where those aliens had attacked. All he could see in front of him was the sand dunes that he was currently walking across. Occasionally he would lift his head and stare through his goggles in front of him to make sure nothing was obstructing his path, but he would soon resort to looking down.

He could tell the sun was still high in the sky just by how light the sand was but he tried not to waste energy by thinking about such things. Sooner or later he had to run into something that would aid him, right?

Nevertheless, he trudged on.

He looked up to see Virgil walking completely upright like the sand was even affecting him, but Thomas had not thought of questioning why. He did not want to waste precious energy. So why was he following this mysterious man in the first place? Because he had offered to point him in a direction? Of what? These questions swirled through his mind but he otherwise kept to himself.

Sometimes he would walk along the very thing top of a dune where his feet would press into the sand to walk on both slopes of the sand, and it was there that he could he would get a better view of his surroundings.

Suddenly, Thomas noticed that Virgil was suddenly much closer, standing off to the side on his left. He looked at the grey robed man before the latter said, _This is where I leave you. Keep walking forward, put one foot ahead of the other, and walk the path._

Thomas looked forward, but it seemed to him like just more and more sand dunes. He looked back, and Virgil was gone. He looked around quickly for a moment, but the man had come and gone without Thomas asking the questions he so desired to have answered.

He stopped and looked up, his goggles filling with light as he looked up into the sky. There was that satellite planet, what had Landa called it...Kiliak's moon or something like that. It was very large in his vision it looked as if it was apart of a mountain chain in the distance, so close in fact he could see the different land formations and higher and lower levels on its light orange surface.

There were formations in the clouds that looked like they were swollen with rain but as they passed over him, nothing came down except the occasional beam of heavenly sunlight that broke through the cover. The clouds almost looked angry by the way the milled and tossed themselves around.

When he stopped his observation, he looked down and moved on.

While he was walking, he reached into his raggedy cloak by pulling his right arm out of its sleeve and felt around his belt for the the rectangular device called a vox transceiver to tune his headset. It was one of the few things he had managed to grab before escaping, apparently it could be used to contact Landa and the _Wings of Dynasty_. He tried to get a clear signal by syncing the two devices on his head and on his arm, but he was having no such luck.

How this was possible, Thomas did not know, but he believed Gricus.

Another tear wriggled its way free of his right eye and he fought to contain further trickles from his eyes. He wanted to remember Gricus and Penelope, for their promise that they had made to him and the kindness they had displayed after he had...awoken.

His free hand moved up and felt around around for the locket that was around his neck. He then put his hand back into his sleeve and moved on.

Minutes became hours and still the sun was high in the sky, he did not feel hot but it was not cool either, a mild temperature so to speak which did not seem out of the ordinary to his thoughts. The sandstorm had shifted in direction as well as speed and was now blowing closer to the ground away from his upper body and face. This change allowed him to raise his head and relieve his aching neck.

He was now traveling up a rather steep dune and he lost his foot a couple times-barely managing to save himself from taking a painful back down to the bottom. When Thomas stumbled yet another time, he felt his foot back up and step on something uneven and hard. He looked back at his right foot which was behind him and realized his left foot was standing on this hard material as well because it was parallel to his right.

Thomas wiggled his back foot a little bit and uncovered the sand around it. When he looked, he saw that it was hard black rock that he was standing on-seemingly a scab underneath the skin of the desert. He shifted his left foot to uncover more sand and found he was standing on the same black rock that his right foot was.

He looked around and was surprised to see small points of black rock protruding out of the ground not entirely but enough to make Thomas believe that there was more rock reaching up towards the surface of the sand. However, he did not know if this mean't anything and thus did not waste anymore time thinking about it.

He continued to climb up the dune.

With a couple more steps that tested his leg strength, he put his gloved hands down at the top of the dune and pulled himself up to place one foot solely on the top of the tune as the whipping sand passed over it and back down from where he had just come.

He looked up.

Across his field of vision, he could see the other planet in close proximity off to the northwest but directly in front of him, at least a mile or two or way were fields of large jagged rocks rising out of the sand. There were no more dunes and the sand that was flowing across the desert was practically at his feet. Also, more stubborn level rocks were uncovered at the surface of the desert.

Thomas looked behind him and saw only the swirling mass of the sand storm rolling in the desert behind him. He looked forward again and scanned the horizon for any sign of anything...anything that looked familiar. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could recognize, even the planet in the sky that he knew he had seen before seemed so vague and alien.

After all, he was on an _alien _world.

"Not...human." he said to himself.

There was nothing more he could do as he shook his head and began to walk again, somewhat thankful that he would no longer be traveling up and down but rather straight across.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble.

Thomas stumbled in his step.

A few pockets of sand all around him were beginning to rise in the air as an unusual noise slowly began to grow louder. He looked around but could not pinpoint its source. The noise level quickly reached an apex and the sand fell back onto the ground.

Thomas looked up just as the ground no more than a hundred yards away suddenly caved inward in a circle, taking whatever sand and ground that had been sitting on it down with it. The ground continued to cave in and raced towards him until it finally stopped a couple inches away from him. He hadn't bothered to think about running as it hadn't crossed his mind. The ground shot downward until it suddenly exploded upward into hundreds of temporary sand pillars at least a couple hundred feet into the sky.

His attention wasn't even on running, it was on something else. Something was emerging from where the ground had caved in.

It was coming up fast as Thomas peered over the edge of the newly formed cliff into the abyss at this massive object as it rose from the darkness. Whatever it was, it looked like it had been buried down beneath the ground and waiting for Thomas to step one inch closer to it. He could not see under the sheer volume of sand that continued to cascade off of it like a waterfall.

It was big..._very...very...big_.

When the massive object passed right in front of him, it began blaring a loud noise as Thomas saw blue lights emerge from what could be identified as its head component as it continued to rise, Thomas got the impression that this was no object, it looked like some very crude machination of a living creature. Two giant legs began to emerge from the ground beneath the giant's body but it did not appear to be stepping in order to raise itself out of the ground.

The giant titan's head appeared to pull back and rise up from its body as it angled downward almost as if to lock onto Thomas himself. It was easy enough to know that it was a head because of its position atop its body. The head was vaguely diamond shaped but instead of hardened points-its chin, cheeks, and top of the head were slightly rounded and in place of its mouth was a noticeable serrated grill.

That was when the massive hole in the center of its head was illuminated with a flaring blue light and Thomas could almost see inner working machinery inside its cyclops eye.

It appeared to be angling directly at him.

Thomas saw its body appear to split in the midsection and four long arms split away from its shoulders and hips and even those split into two funnels on each of the bigger arms. They continued to unfold until what looked eight of these funnels were angling directly at him from its shoulders and lower body. Even as this happened, giant wing like structures began to emerge from its back, uncovering themselves from each other so that they arced up and behind the giant machine, allowing the sunlight to gleam off of them greatly.

The human did not know what to feel, there was no set emotion or feeling that came to mind as is mind simply stared on in awe at this massive machine that had simply burst out of the ground and whose legs were still partially obscured by the abyss it had come out of. He did however, find himself reaching up into his cloak and grabbed a hold Gricus' locket while never breaking eye contact with the titan's giant eye as it continued to unfold itself.

Thomas ran his fingers over the locket, not daring to stop looking at this machine that was constantly unfolding parts of itself. He knew what lay inside the locket, the picture of Gricus and Penelope, with the latter's head rested against the former's chest as Penelope held the sleeping baby Tali in her arms. The smiles on their faces spoke of a time before Thomas had awoken. Now what was on the picture could never be again.

So why was his heart beginning to lift into his chest again? He could feel it...a sense of...no...a feeling of...determination? Was that the word to be used?

He had told Penelope that he would find out for himself why he was here.

Why he was alive.

He had told Gricus that he knew he was a human.

What it means to be a human? He added that question to his mental list.

He opened his eyes and cocked his head down at the locket beneath his cloak.

He would find the answers to these questions for them both...for all of them. He would not stop until he found the answers. Then and only then could he feel satisfied.

As the machine's funnels came into position, the massive wings on each side of its body swept forward once, making a giant explosive noise as they did so and all the sand that had been gathering in front of the machine in clouds was suddenly and forcefully blown away from it. The massive force reached Thomas quickly and he stumbled back a couple steps but kept himself on his feet as his hood was thrown back.

Thomas thumbed the switch to close the locket and and pulled his hand back out while looking up at the giant titan through his goggles.

The machine loudly blared a greeting.

* * *

_The Keeper identifies Advent-00._

_The Keeper recognizes the primary._

_The Keeper welcomes the human._

_The Keeper has long dreamt of this day human._


	12. The Blackstone Blades

**A/N: It's been a year to the day that I published this rewrite! Hopefully I can get more than just twelve chapters done this time next year. I've been super lazy and I apologize greatly, the life of a college student I suppose. This chapter could have been out sooner but the struggles of an English major are catching up, so don't be surprised if the length between chapter's increases.**

**In the meantime, I've made subtle but important changes to all the chapters between the first and last. _Perhaps you should reread the story from the beginning?_ Your choice, but it has been awhile. Chapter 1 will be rewritten in the near future, so check back periodically for that update, as you won't be notified.**

**Thanks again to everyone (yes, _everyone_) that has ever reviewed or PM'd me past and present regarding concepts and the story itself. Your criticisms, advice, and encouragement are helping me to become a better writer and in my opinion, have helped shaped this story into what it is now.**

**Again, if you have any questions or comments that _you would like answers to_, please PM me. _Leaving questions in the review section will not earn you an answer_.**

**This is Part 1 of 2, to make the reading a little easier.**

**Listened to the song "Are you alive?" from the BSG soundtrack while writing this chapter.**

* * *

_Caraeis stood on the steps leading up to the epicenter of the webway arches, his hands were in the opposite sleeves of his seer robes as he looked out over Hal-junitheer. The sandstorm had passed and only small winds blew across the ground. He wondered what this town would have looked like millennia ago when the Eldar were its only inhabitants, he imagined children running around playing and citizens exchanging goods in the marketplace._

_He shook his head, that image may never come to light again._

_Still, it didn't mean that his people would leave it entirely in the meddling, filthy hands of the humans. Creatures born in dark and dirty hives and bred for the soul purpose of conquering the galaxy in the name of their corpse Emperor._

_He eagerly awaited the day when the renewed empire would stamp out the human menace once and for all. Until then, he would have to wait...and endure._

_The warlock of Biel-Tan watched the rangers piled the bodies of the dead humans along the main street. There was a great many of them, something that the aspect shrines were thrilled about as they had poured out of the portal with the Storm of Silence to lay waste to the interlopers._

_He eyed each of the outcasts closely, most of them grumbling at having to carry the remains of humans to be burned once they were all gathered, others were stoic about the duty. However, even Caraeis himself would not question the farseer at the head of this operation. He cocked his head to the left, looking at the still as of yet unnamed farseer of Ulthwé standing next to an arch. His runes floated about him, deep in thought; Caraeis would not dare to intrude._

_Biel-Tan and Ulthwé_ _had come at the behest of a group of rangers that had been tailing a suspicious human vessel traveling near old maiden worlds. When it became clear that the humans intended to plunder the ruins of the ancient Eldar town, even the Storm of Silence took up her mighty staff to assist in the purge of the humans. Caraeis had been in awe of the Phoenix Lord, having seen her for the first time in his lifetime._

_The rest was history._

_Caraeis never enjoyed fighting humans, mostly because none of them had yet proven a challenge. He had slain their mighty space marines, cut through their laughable foot soldiers, and the list went on. This situation proved to be the most pitiful of all. Still, he questioned the need for so large a force._

_It was a question he was willing to hold onto._

_He descended the steps to stand by the farseer, saying, "The outcasts are nearly finished gathering the remains of the mongrels. They shall be burned as soon as possible."_

_The farseer, clad in the trademark black and white robes of his Craftworld, simply nodded._

_They stood observing the grizzly process as groups of aspect warriors came and went, patrolling the town for any stragglers that might have escaped the initial assault. The entire force had been composed of mostly Howling Banshees, Dire Avengers, and multiple squadrons of Guardians. If the humans had been in greater number and better armed, they would have brought along the darker aspects of the Craftworlds._

_Caraeis couldn't stand it any longer, "Forgive my intrusion enlightened one, but one cannot help but-"_

_"Wonder why I am not calm?" the farseer asked, slowly turning his ghost helm to Caraeis._

_The warlock stared at him._

_The farseer turned away and motioned to an approaching group of Howling Banshees, their bone white armor stained red with human blood as well as their swords. They were of Ulthwé, but Caraeis had known them previously, the Shrine of the Singing Strike._

_Caraeis bowed his head in respect to Exarch Brilandrir and spoke, "Noble Exarch, I trust that you and your disciples of have satisfied Khaine in your own right?"_

_There was an awkward silence that even made Caraeis uncomfortable until the Exarch spoke, "We have, but that is not our current concern."_

_The farseer spoke into Caraeis' mind, away from the ears of the aspect warriors, "You wanted to know why my runes are...unhinged?"_

_The Exarch finished, "One of our sisters, Taisha, is missing."_

* * *

Thomas opened his eyes slowly and groggily, his senses immediately responded with a disorientated feeling as his head rolled to loosen up his neck. He was still wearing his polarized goggles and it only made it harder to see the dim light.

He tried to move his hands to his face to take them off, but found them restrained and unable to move. The unfamiliar feeling of being shackled began to wake him up more thoroughly. Similarly, his legs were rooted to the ground at the ankles and he couldn't pull them up.

His breath was heavy behind his shemagh as his vision cleared and he could see taunt energy coils wrapping around his forearms and hands to their projectors on both sides of him. He couldn't even see anything below his ankles as they appeared swallowed by a shimmering abyss of similar energy. This all looked very familiar to the alien facility he had had so many troubles with.

Trying to move all his limbs at once was futile as his body hung in this floating prison. He could barely see a couple feet in front of him as the energy from below emanated in large waves up towards his face, a very warm but uncomfortable feeling.

Where was he if not back in the facility? How had he gotten here? Where was the towering alien machine?

An odd mechanical sound caused him to roll his head back forward.

**_THUMP_**

**_THUMP_**

Something was walking towards him, something big, its large footfalls and small mechanical quirks was enough to make Thomas struggle with his limbs even more, to no avail.

The source of the heavy footsteps was coming into view, there was nothing Thomas could do but look at it as it approached from the catwalk in front of him. He stopped struggling and his eyes grew as wide as his heart beat, fear and terror creeping its way back into every corner of his body.

It was large, far taller than him and walked with talons on its feet. In fact, it stood probably just under five or six feet taller than the top of his head. There was no sign of biological organs or anything that Thomas could hint at a gender, its arms, legs, and body were made of grey almost black smooth metal that curved and twisted along its body, grooves and symbols covered every inch of its metallic body. Its chest was narrow and came to a point as it jutted out of its body.

The hands wielded similar talons that looked like they could crush anything in their grasp. Thomas found himself fixated on those as it took another couple of slow but mighty steps towards him.

Its head.

It's..._eye_.

Now the damn to the memories began to break as Thomas realized just where he had seen that exact same head. The angular head with a glowing blue cyclopean eye with inner workings behind it, almost like Eremis' eyes when Thomas had first met the Magos Explorator, but this...this was not him. Two wing-like structures jutted from its back not outward but rather angled up and then down towards its talon toes.

It stopped right in front of him, looking down at the imprisoned human with nothing that told Thomas what it was thinking, if it even could think. Thomas looked back at it through the cracks in his goggles, eyes wide and body shivering, almost waiting for it to seize him in its grasp and-

**_"The Keeper has long dreamt of this day."_**

The voice came from none other than the machine-thing standing in front of him. It was not biological in any way and for a minute it sounded an awful lot like Eremis', but far more potent to Thomas' ears now as opposed to then.

It was then, that Thomas remembered just how he got here.

* * *

**Three hours earlier...**

_Thomas stared up at the titanic machine as it did the same; it somehow was able to angle its gigantic head down at him. It was either that, or its eye just saw everything around Thomas._

_Its wings glowed that extended from the back of its shoulders glowed in reflection of the sun. The four long tubes at the end of each arm hadn't even finished unraveling themselves until they simply halted as twin barrels at the end of each arm._

_He lowered his arms to his sides and kept looking at the machine, neither of them moved even as sand continued to flow off the newly unveiled titan and down into the cavern from whence it came._

_Thomas looked over the edge and saw a small portion of what looked like a very large tunnel leading up to where the titan was hovering. Perhaps its wings were generating artificial lift._

_The human and the machine stared at each other for quite some time for Thomas entertained no thoughts to run away or break eye contact. Curiously, he felt more secure with it in his sights as opposed to his back. After all, if this thing had emerged from the ground to kill him, it looked like it was fully capable of doing so with no effort._

_The machine sounded its horn once again, rattling Thomas' bones as he struggled to stand still under the weight of its presence._

_Suddenly, the many grooves and lines running all around its metallic body began to glow blue as yet another low and ominous sound began to build up from Thomas could guess the machine. Its body moved around lightly in the air around where it was hovering, its massive wings still reflecting almost blinding light back at Thomas and he was forced to put his hands above his cracked goggles in order to see._

_Now he could only see the shadow of the titan under the pressure of the sun directly above them as the sound grew in size. Once again the sand began to rise from the desert in small droplets and his head swiveled to the left and right, noticing that this was happening all around him._

_He looked back at the machine._

_For a moment, he thought he heard what sounded like words in his ears._

_"**Advent, Advent, Advent.**"_

_He didn't have time to even move another muscle as the titan's pointed chest opened suddenly with speed that shouldn't be possible for something its size. It reminded him of the petals on the dead flowers he had seen on his awakening planet. Except the panels on the machine were much more sharp, and they surrounded a glowing blue core._

_A thick beam of blue hued light lanced out from the core and enveloped the human standing there on the edge of the cliff the titan had just created. As far as Thomas was concerned, it moved faster than his eyes could register and in an instant he was gone, removed from where he was standing as the beam dissipated and the titan's flowering chest retracted back to its hardened point._

_Its blaring horn sounded again and its flight lifted it fully out of the cavern it had emerged from before slowly turning and landing in the sand, shaking the earth as it did so. With its objective sealed securely within it, it began to walk._

_For a machine so tall and mighty it moved with a grace almost like a fully biological being, its body turning ever so slightly in tangent with each earthquake of a step. All around it, jagged rocks and ruined structures jutted up from the sand, remnants of a race long gone._

_The machine walked across the treacherous sand and through storms that would have felled anything else more unprotected than itself. It traversed the burning heat for hours on end, passing various landscapes and sporadic ruins with speed uncharacteristic for something of its size and magnitude._

_When it came across large and varied sand dunes nearly twenty one miles to the east of where it had emerged from the ground, it stopped. The dunes would crumble under the weight of the machine no doubt and swallow it whole._

_Instead, the machine's horn blared and the twin tubes under each of its arms slowly began to rotate. Very quickly they began to pick up speed and glow with the same light that had filled its body earlier. When the spinning of the tubes reached an apex, they fired._

_Beams as golden as sunlight lanced out from each tube into the sand at a continuous stream as the titan's upper body moved from left to right._

_The sand dunes that stretched for miles parted to the left and to the right as easily as kicking aside dirt, revealing a gigantic flat plain of ground from the edge of where it stood to the mountains in the distance. However, there was an irregularity._

_Not too far away the ground gave way in a very narrow point, only visible by the machine's all-seeing eye. The horn blared and the massive titan lifted slowly into the sky and traveled a distance before placing itself on the ground with yet another earthshaking landing. The valleys of sand shook but remarkably stayed still in a continuous wave to the left and to the right._

_The machine continued to walk before beginning to descend the downward ramp into the cavern that had been uncovered by its otherworldly technology. The cavern was tall enough to accommodate the gigantic machine and its width as it descended further and further into the ground. Soon however, it came to a large door marked with the same symbols that marked the machine's own body._

_As if by cue, the valleys of sand slowly began to slide back into their previous position, covering the ground they had once dominated for millennia._

_The machine stepped forward and placed each beam tube into a socket and then began to twist them clockwise and counterclockwise, the sockets too spinning in their positions on the door. After a few seconds, the machine retracted its tubes and the door slowly began to open vertically with an ancient tone to its workings._

_The machine moved forward and into the facility behind the door as soon as it was able to as the valleys of sand came crashing down into the miles long ramp way. The massive door shut just as the tide of sand crashed against it, sealing it back under the dunes as if nothing had ever occurred._

* * *

From the instant the beam had hit him; Thomas only remembered standing was standing in ankle deep water, water that stretched for miles with no end. It had only been for but a couple seconds.

Then, he awoke here.

The part of him that was still making assumptions about his surroundings guessed that the cyclopean machine had taken him to yet another alien facility against his will. Was he even on the same planet? Did the Inquisitor even know he was still alive? Did anybody know he was alive? Contrary to what he should be thinking, the only person he really wished was at his side was Virgil.

The strange man that had led him to the doorstep of the machine.

Now the machine's smaller manifestation towered over him, its glowing blue eye twisting and turning as and twin bug-like mandibles clicking together as if studying Thomas like a specimen.

He knew that it had spoken to him, saying, "The Keeper has long dreamt of this day". Was that what it called itself? The Keeper? The sentence was easy enough to comprehend in Thomas' mind, he just wasn't sure if he and the machine were on the same terms.

"**The pinnacle of creation.**"

It spoke again.

The same inhuman voice resounded through Thomas' body like an echo, but all he could do was staring up at it through cracked goggles from his stationary prison. Fear still filled his veins but not nearly as much as when the aliens had killed everyone he knew.

"**You...are human**."

Thomas squeaked out, "Yes."

He wasn't even sure why he had said it, whether out of fear or instinct he didn't know. The machine continued to study him, its head slowly moving to the left and right, its own thoughts known only to itself.

His muscles were beginning to ache and he groaned at the feeling of being strung up here. After tossing his head around in frustration he finally looked up at the machine and spoke clearly for the first time that day, "Who...are you?"

The machine replied almost autonomously, "**The Keeper.**"

Thomas looked around, but saw only one of the machines around him. He gulped at the thought of more of them surrounding him, he still didn't know what his purpose was here, and Virgil's words along with everyone else's were becoming distant and fractured in his mind.

"**The Keeper understands.**" it said, and the coils wrapping around his arms and legs dissipated as if they had simply turned off, the twin pylons on either side of Thomas remained standing however. Thomas dropped about a foot or two before his feet hit solid ground beneath his former prison. The feeling of being released caused him great relief and he breathed a long awaited sigh as his muscles relaxed.

When he opened his eyes he saw the large legs and talon feet of the being that called itself the Keeper. He slowly looked up at the machine's eye almost in the same fashion that he had done with its larger titan body, if the two were the same in the first place.

Thomas remained rigid until the Keeper spoke again, "**Have no fear, the Keeper is a product of creation, as you are.**"

The machine was speaking to him in words that made sense but Thomas still had the aching idea that he and the machine were on separate pages. His eyes scanned left and right to analyze his surroundings. Wherever he was, it looked remarkably similar to the facility that he had first visited with the Inquisitor and the xenologist team. The team that was most likely dead.

The thought stung his mind, causing Thomas to flinch.

Staring at the machine's singular eye, Thomas blurted out, "Are you...going to...kill me?"

The Keeper responded, "**The Keeper protects the products of creation. You are a product of creation.**"

Words registered in Thomas mind but it was still in so much shock and turmoil that he still wasn't thinking clearly. He knew he couldn't go anywhere, for the spot where he had been imprisoned was a part of a very long platform sticking out from the side of the cavern wall, almost like the alien facility-

Thoughts began to connect in Thomas' mind.

He asked, "Is this...your...planet?"

"**You reside in the domain of the Keeper.**" it replied, still not moving a single inch.

"What...am I doing...here?"

The Keeper did not reply as instantly as all the other replies it had given, instead it straightened itself, breaking contact for the first time since Thomas had come to a couple of minutes ago. It began to circle the platform where Thomas was kneeling over and walked fully behind it. This was the first time that Thomas had actually looked behind him this whole time, and his eyes widened.

Many elongated platforms extended towards the center of the cavern in a similar design and structure to the previous facility he had seen. However where they converged was not as elegantly lit as what he had seen before. Scattered border lights were what lit the way to the central platform and even then, he could barely see what lay beyond. Carefully, he lifted his cracked goggles and placed them on the front of his helmet, all of its still intact after going through a mirage of travels.

The Keeper lifted off the ground a couple of inches, its wings seeming to be source of the small flight, turning around to face Thomas.

"**For eons the Keeper has slept, now it has been awakened by the trickle of advent blood into its domain.**"

Could it be talking about the slaughter that had just taken place? Thomas lowered his eyes.

It continued, "**For eons, the Keeper has sealed this domain away from the eyes of the malevolent, the corrupted, and the** **unworthy.**"

Thomas looked up at it, once again meeting its indiscernible gaze.

"**For eons, the Keeper has awaited the arrival of the human.**"

"Why?" Thomas gasped, feeling the strain of exhaustion and pain in his chest. The Keeper did not respond as quickly as before and lifted off the ground to turn itself around once again. With its back facing him, it said, "**A purpose, that only few will ever know of.**" then, it began to walk on the platform behind the stationary prison where Thomas had been held.

Thomas looked around for some sort of escape route, perhaps a platform like he had used earlier, but the cavern walls were covered in rock, and not the long tunnels he had seen in the other facility. He truly was in an entirely different place, if this place was even on the world of Kiliak that he was familiar with.

He turned around to watch the Keeper, but it had stopped again, staring towards the center of the bridges. Did it even know that Thomas was trying to find a way out of here this whole time? The thought of following this...thing...around did not appeal to Thomas; it radiated mystery and dominance with its size and build. However, there was one face that Thomas could not escape.

It hadn't killed him.

_Yet_...he thought, with those claws it and fluid moving body it looked perfectly capable of doing so. For a couple of moments he continued to look around before coming back to the Keeper again, who hadn't moved. He finally summoned the strength to stand up tall on his feet, still shivering at his predicament however.

He traced his steps across the platform to the rounded area where the Keeper had circled him and looked over the edge, only darkness above and below him just like before. Looking to the Keeper, he spoke in a voice that struggled with its volume.

"Why...am I here?"

The Keeper did not move, but it did say something.

"**T-T-Thomas...please...don't...w-w-waste...your...your life.**"

The voice was as clear to Thomas then as it would ever me. His head snapped to the left and right, looking for Gricus Vicar, the man that had uttered those words.

"Gricus? Gricus! Where...Where are you?" he refused to believe that the man was dead, the sound was so real.

"**Wait...there's...there's still...a chance...for you.**"

The Keeper turned around to face Thomas, the inner workings of its eye moving back and forth almost in tangent with the words it was so cruelly repeating in front of Thomas. He stared at the machine dumbfounded until it finally dawned on him that it was simply repeating the final words of Gricus, however it had heard them. For what purpose, Thomas did not know.

"**The Keeper sees all, the Keeper hears all, the Keeper knows all.**" it boomed, causing Thomas to flinch, "**The Keeper knows why you are here.**"

That last sentence caused Thomas to pick his head up and look up at the Keeper again.

"**You desire purpose. The Keeper will bestow upon you purpose.**"

The words caused Thomas added even more confusion and he shook his head, shouting out, "I just want to leave this place! Please! I...I...I just want to...go..." he leaned over, the breath escaping him even by this small gesture.

The Keeper did not respond but instead began to walk forward, this time it did not stop.

Thomas pondered whether running the other way would do any good, but there was no long tunnel running up the cavern walls like the previous facility and there was nothing above or below him. If this thing's words were making any sense, they were telling Thomas that the Keeper knew why he was here, why its titan shell had captured him and brought him here. The shell that was nowhere to be seen.

He swallowed his bile and tentatively began walking after the Keeper, the machine having gained some distance since it hadn't stopped walking. Thomas was by no means comfortable with its presence, but he could think of nothing else that could possibly aid him in this situation, it was entirely alien to him. Maybe however, just maybe, he could follow this machine's instructions and escape this place unharmed. Perhaps even return to the _Wings of Dynasty_.

As he looked to his left and right, his heart beat quickened when he saw figurines that looked identical to the Keeper stationed on platforms on the edges of this elongated bridge. They looked all too real, some of them frozen in different positions as if awaiting reanimation. He couldn't count how many he saw but one thing he did notice was that towards the halfway point of the bridge, one of the platforms was empty on the left side.

He shook his head, shivered, and kept his distance from the Keeper, its footsteps still able to be heard despite the distance.

Looking down at his feet, Thomas once again pondered his options, but found himself only questioning what was ahead. The Keeper was bound to do something, he just couldn't predict what. This entire planet was one giant mystery and the Keeper only added to that description.

He had been looking down at his own feet for so long that he almost ran into the Keeper, the machine having stopped once again but they were still not at the central platform in the middle of the cavern.

Thomas gasped and backed away hurriedly, but the Keeper was instead facing to the left. He followed its singular gaze and yelped in fright when he saw what it was looking at it; he even scurried behind the machine, disregarding his earlier intuition about it.

He peaked out from behind it.

The figure was being held in the same prison that Thomas himself had been in, though he was fairly certain that it was no human.

* * *

_It was too thin, looked like it had flaming red hair, white bone armor covering its body..._

* * *

He remembered where he had seen it before because it was no human, it was an alien. An alien that had was a part of the same unseen force that had swiftly killed everyone in the alien town. Now, he had a close up view of the real killer and it radiated pure fear into every inch of his being.

Its helmet was composed of multiple grills on its cheeks and mouth to be shaped like screaming maws, narrow red orbs occupied the spaces where its eyes should be, and a flaming red headdress burst from the back of its helmet, reminding Thomas of when he had seen the alien darting through the sand storm as it swept through the town.

Its bone white armor fit taunt to its lithe body that was being pulled by the arms and legs by the same energy coils that had imprisoned Thomas. Symbols swirled and dotted both its armor and helmet, symbols as mysterious as the ones that were engraved on the Keeper's body.

"**The pinnacle of creation.**" The Keeper said, staring at the alien.

The alien raised its head, or what Thomas was sure was just a helmet. It looked at the Keeper before slowly turning its gaze to Thomas, who shrunk away under the malevolent stare. It was the same stare that it had worn when it had probably slaughtered the people he had once known.

Then, it spoke.

"_Mon...mon...ki...k." _it sounded exasperated, or at least didn't even finish what it was trying to say for it drooped its head over and its hands were hanging loose from their coils. The tone of its musical voice suggested the alien was in fact a female, like the one that had nearly killed him back at the town. The word or whatever it had said did not register in Thomas' mind; it was likely it was speaking an entirely different language.

"**It resisted the call of the Keeper, but the Keeper would not be denied.**" The Keeper boomed.

Thomas stared at the alien woman hanging in the prison, noting her exhausted nature. In the relative silence of the cavern, he could hear her labored breathing, though he could identify no open wounds that bled. Though its armor steamed and was blackened in some areas.

Thomas took a step back and to the side of the Keeper, saying, "Why am I...here?"

"**One shall inherit. One shall witness inheritance. That is the purpose for which the products of creation have gathered here.**" The Keeper said.

The words were beginning to make sense in a way Thomas was becoming uncomfortable with, though Thomas was never sure who it was referring to for it spoke in a tense that made it difficult to discern.

The Keeper then raised its left hand and Thomas watched in amazement as the air distorted around its finger tips, like heat radiating in the distance. The coils holding the alien woman hostage deactivated and she fell to the ground more heavily than Thomas had and stayed there for a couple moments before slowly getting to her hands and knees.

The machine waved its hand again, this time saying, "**Meet the eyes of the product of creation.**"

Thomas gasped as the waves that extended from the Keeper's hands reached out to the alien and very quickly disintegrated her helmet-the flaming headdress and screaming grill all in a matter of seconds. For the second time that day, Thomas saw the true face of the alien.

Her head was completely shaved and marked with symbols like her helmet but when it looked up at him, he knew once and for all that it was unlike him entirely. Her eyes looked like his but were narrow and filled with inhuman light, her ears were like his but too narrow and pointed. The entire face was too perfectly aligned and curved for her to be human.

Thomas gulped and took a step back again as it stared at him, he could hear her breathing becoming more rapid.

In a blink of an eye, she was upon him.

He almost didn't see her lung but he barely had time to turn around before she was but a step or two away. Whatever exhaustion she had showed was gone and she drove an armored fist directly into his stomach. Luckily, his heavy coat and clothing underneath took most of the impact but nevertheless he gasped with a lack of breath and the woman force him onto his back. He was in too much of a shock to do anything for his vision was filled with the angry face of a murderous alien.

She barred her teeth like a wild animal and the symbolic streaks under her eyes made her that much more fearsome. Her hands latched onto his exposed his neck under his shemagh and she proceeded to choke the life out of him.

Then, she spoke as clearly to him as any other human had that day.

"I am...Taisha...daughter...of Ulthwé...and you...are..._human_." she spoke the last word with a disgusted tone to her voice.

Thomas flailed in a last ditch attempt to get the alien woman off him. He threw his hands in her face and kicked at her stomach but he appeared to be doing as much damage as a pinprick, for this woman was not just an alien, but a warrior.

Suddenly, the pressure on his neck alleviated and he breathed in a large gulp of air, coughing violently as he did.

The alien woman's eyes were flinching and her lips were moving in a struggling fashion. She gasped and fidgeted as she was lifted off of him and into the air, towards the Keeper and its outstretched hand, the same distorted waves enveloping the alien woman and preventing her from making any movement.

"**You will not harm the inheritor for you are witness...nothing more.**" The Keeper said.

Thomas lay on the ground, still trying to regain his breath and groaning at the blow to his stomach, further adding to the pain that was already there. Part of him wondered how much internal damage he had sustained.

The Keeper's footsteps vibrated the bridge around him even as Thomas lay on his back. His eyes fluttered with disorientation and he barely even noticed the Keeper picking him up in its massive right hand while it held the alien woman in the other. It then turned around, floating in the air once more before continuing to walk towards the center platform.

Despite the pain throbbing in his center, Thomas still managed to summon strength to look up and analyze his surroundings as they finally arrived in the center. The Keeper dropped the alien woman to the ground while carefully lowering Thomas down. Its clawed hand still remained around Thomas and he felt a small resurgence of energy as the air distorted around the Keeper's hand.

While he was on his knees, Thomas caught sight of something beyond the center stage on the other sides. As he narrowed his eyes he was amazed to see that same cocoon floating in the air in the previous facility, though because he was much closer, it was far larger than he had anticipated, eclipsing the area behind the central area.

He turned his head upward to the Keeper and then to the alien woman, who was no firmly in the machine's grasp. Her eyes looked to him and betrayed nothing but hatred and malice, though she did not speak.

"**You are here for one purpose. The Keeper will bestow upon you that purpose.**" it said before thrusting the alien woman upon the ground as energy coils sprang up from the ground and locked themselves around her elbows as she knelt upon the ground not a couple feet away from Thomas. She looked more exhausted than ever as her head drooped again.

Thomas looked up at the Keeper as it strode forward and he got a good look at what occupied the center of all the bridges just a foot or so away.

There was a rounded out area filled with water so that it was at least a couple inches deep, the lighting in the cavern made the water look black but he could see its reflection in the light and hear the sounds that it made as it splashed against its container. The Keeper lifted off the ground and moved over the shallow pool before landing in the middle, dipping so carefully into the ankle deep water that it barely made a sound.

It turned slightly to face Thomas, "**Come forth, receive what is destined.**"

Thomas gasped out, "If I...If I do...will you...release me?"

"**Your purpose will free you.**" The Keeper said.

The alien woman scoffed something in her own language, but the only word that Thomas was interested in was "free". His mind tossed aside all other questions, anything that might hinder him as he rose to his feet and stumbled over to the center of the platform. All he wanted to do was be free of this cursed alien facility, this entire planet even. Ironically, he wanted to forget that any of this had ever happened.

He stumbled forth, disregarding the alien woman's comments whether they were in his language or not. Even though she had almost killed him not a couple minutes ago, all he was focused on was escaping this place. Stepping over the small wall of the pool, the water came up to his ankles and he made his way to the Keeper.

His knees buckled and he knelt into the water, his hands submerged beneath the surface but he could not see past it.

"**You would ask what your purpose is. Behold and receive the marks of inheritance.**" The Keeper said.

For a couple of moments, nothing happened, the alien woman watched with meticulous eyes while Thomas knelt with his hands in the water. The Keeper stood in front of him with its arms outstretched as if to await some embrace.

Then, Thomas became aware of something rising from the water.

It was not just one thing, but two things. He raised his head and watched as they broke the surface ever so slightly, small diamond shaped objects as black as the void rising very slowly into the air right before his eyes.

His eyes were fixated on them, widened with curiosity. He couldn't help himself; it was as if yet another wave of disregard swept over his mind as curiosity and wonder settled in. These...black stones were so memorizing that the pain in his body seemed to simply fade away. He almost felt drawn to them, his entire body urging him to grasp them.

There was nothing he could do to satisfy the urge for these stones rose even higher into the air before stopping above him, still dripping water from their bath. Thomas breathed heavily as he struggled to his feet before standing up tall. The stones were still above him, at about the same height as the Keeper's mid-section. The machine still hadn't moved.

"**The marks of inheritance, so will they free you.**"

"Free...me." Thomas whispered and reached up with both arms towards both stones.

Before he could even notice, the stones zipped through the air in opposite directions before zooming back at Thomas' forearms, burning a path straight to his skin near his elbows. In that instant Thomas' trance was broken and the pain returned but this time it was unlike anything he had ever felt.

"**Bear witness to inheritance!**" The Keeper boomed and it plucked Thomas out of the water in a single swoop, striding out of the pool before placing him down in front of the alien woman, where she was still bound to the ground by energy coils.

Thomas watched in horror as the sleeves around where the stones had implanted themselves into his skin disintegrated and his veins began to turn black before his eyes. The pain caused him to scream out loud and he made to get up, but now similar coils sprang from the ground to wrap themselves around his own elbows.

The feeling spread like wild fire to every nerve across his body, igniting them with the same pain as Thomas thrashed about, still screaming at the top of his lungs. He slammed his hands onto the ground and clawed at it while banging his helmet on the ground. Tears flew from his eyes and his mouth was open in between gasps and screams. Spittle flew from his mouth as he continued to fight a useless battle.

His vision glossed over and he caught glimpses of the alien woman, but his mind was too delirious to notice. He continued to scream even as the skin around the stones began to morph and expand. So great was the pain that filled every inch of his being that Thomas didn't notice what was happening to his forearms.

The alien woman stared at him with a stoic face though the human's screams were beginning to break through her hardened war spirit. So close was he that she could see the terrible pain he was in his eyes as he fidgeted and threw himself around, trying to escape whatever was causing him this pain. Then, she looked down at his forearms, and her eyes widened.

Then, it was over.

He collapsed on the ground. His forearms smoldering.

He lay there for a long while and for some time, the alien woman thought he was dead, but she saw his body rising and falling, she knew he had probably passed out from the great amount of stress he had just undertaken.

Thomas' head was in greater disarray than ever before, he couldn't focus himself to move any part of his body besides the slight twitching of his fingers and toes within his boots. The energy coils dissipated and the Keeper stood behind the two of them.

Thomas squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth against the stinging pain until it eventually subsided in a smooth withdrawal that made him sigh with slight relief. He would lie on the ground for some time, the three of them not saying anything until Thomas was able to focus on moving again.

Slowly but surely, he rose back onto his knees to face the alien woman, breathing heavily as he did. He slowly opened his eyes. At first he met the eyes of the woman, but found that she was instead looking downward.

That was when he became aware of the glow.

His heart lurched in his chest and his eyes widened more so than they ever had as he looked slowly looked down at his forearms, feeling beginning to return to them as he now knew that what he was seeing was real.

It was a nightmare-a cruel, painful nightmare.

A bright blue glow emanated from both his forearms.

Twin gauntlets occupied his skin.


	13. Alone Again, Naturally

**Part 2 of 2, continued directly from the previous chapter. If it helps you, I would recommend rereading the entire story in order to gain a better understanding of the emotions and circumstances surrounding these chapters.**

**If you have any further questions, please PM me.**

* * *

His mouth trembled as he slowly lifted his forearms to his eyes and shivered madly as he looked between them.

The gauntlets were a dull grey and rose a little off of his skin and were complete with a mirage of grooves and spirals that seemed very similar to the ones on the Keeper's metallic body. He could feel their slight weight on his skin even as he trembled in terror with what had just happened. Near the top of the gauntlets in identical places were rounded out ovals where the black stones lay upon the gauntlets. Below the stones, the tops of gauntlets rose out to from elongated openings that ended at the front near his wrists.

Beams of startling blue light emerged from these openings, extending in a triangular shape out of the gauntlets that appeared to be generating them. Bands of energy occasionally broke off from the main energy source. The black stones twinkled in their secure position on each gauntlet.

The Keeper simply stared at the boy and his painful wonder. The alien woman knelt upon the ground, she too stared at the human and the objects now attached to his forearms, but she was too weak to do anything.

Thomas looked up at the alien, disregarding all that she was and whispered, "What...have you...done to me?" but referring to the Keeper.

"**The Keeper understands.**" the machine's voice boomed, it turned its head to the alien before looking at Thomas, "**The Keeper will see the aether returned to its rightful inheritors.**"

It walked over to the alien woman and effortlessly brushed off her attempts to defend herself as it picked her up with its left hand just as the coils dissipated, leaving Thomas to continue staring at the gauntlets on his arms in horror. Even as Thomas' tears hit the ancient floors, the Keeper raised the alien in front of it and spoke, "**We are all witness to the true inheritor of the clean aether.**"

The woman spat something back in her language, something Thomas didn't understand nor was he paying attention to.

"**The Keeper has slept for eons, watched as the aether descended into the maelstrom it now is, listened to the death wails of its masters.**" The machine spoke, still holding the struggling alien woman in its grasp before walking towards one of the towering plumes of energy on the outside of the central platform. The plume extended to the darkened roof of the cavern somewhere above them.

The Keeper spoke again, "**This is the creator's legacy, to you.**" The alien woman still wore a face born of rage and anger but could not help but open up her ears to the words of the powerful machine.

"**Your time of witnessing has passed.**" With those final words the Keeper thrust the alien woman into the plume and she began to break apart piece by piece just as Thomas had a couple hours ago until she disappeared in but a couple seconds. She did not make a sound and neither did the Keeper. The only sound came from the weeping human boy still sitting on the platform.

The Keeper turned to face the boy.

Thomas cringed and cried as he stared at the gauntlets that had caused him so much pain.

"All I wanted...to do...was leave...leave...go...go..."

_But where is home? _His mind asked him, a question that was so well formed that it surprised Thomas.

"**You are free, but you are marked for eternity...as the true inheritor of the creators.**" the Keeper said, again the words did nothing to alleviate Thomas' mood for while the wildfire pain no longer plagued his body, where the aliens had hit and beat him still throbbed.

The Keeper said, "**This is the creator's legacy, to you.**"

The sound of an explosion somewhere on the roof of the cavern caused Thomas to slowly look up. Then another explosion sounded, and another. The platform began to shake and in the distance, he saw a large piece of rock come hurtling down to hit the bridge he had walked on to get here. The rock smashed through and split the bridge in two.

"**They can never know what transpired here.**"

All around him, explosions sounded and rocks began to fall from the darkness, the force of the large pieces hitting the platforms and bridges threw Thomas to the ground even as the gauntlets were still sprouting their triangular formations of light.

"**_They_...will never find the true inheritor.**"

The Keeper intended to bury this place, that much was clear to whatever part of Thomas still analyzed its surroundings. It still stood a couple of feet away from him as Thomas struggled to get up. It motioned with its hand towards the outer edge of the central platform, where a plume of energy opposite the one that had taken the alien woman still extended towards the deteriorating roof of the cavern.

"**You are free, Advent-00, the creators bestow upon you their blessing. The time of the Keeper...is over.**"

Thomas gritted his teeth as he looked at the plume of energy and struggled to stay in once place as the platform shook like it was in the midst of an earthquake. He remembered thoroughly what had happened in the previous facility, and how it had transported him to the surface.

Another explosion sounded and this time a large piece of the earth fell from the roof before smashing down on the opposite side of the platform, throwing Thomas up into the air a couple of inches before smacking him back down. He cried out in fear before scrambling to his feet, struggling to get to the platform. Yet another rock crashed down somewhere near and the force threw him against a pylon near the plume.

He looked back at the Keeper one last time.

"**Farewell.**"

Thomas bit back his tears and squeezed his eyes shut as he threw himself into the plume, he would not watch as his body broke apart and vanished into the plume.

The Keeper watched as the human disappeared before turning back towards the giant cocoon, which had remained unscathed against the various rocks still plummeting through the air.

"**On the final day, the Keepers shall fulfill their purpose.**" it said, before the entire roof of the cavern collapsed.

* * *

Pain flared across Thomas' forearms as he found himself hitting the sand again, no longer in the accursed facility. Away from the machine that called itself the Keeper, away from the fearsome alien woman.

His helmet and goggles were loosely attached to his head and face and his mouth was getting peppered by oncoming sand, he brought up his hands to shield himself even though his forearms were bare, the things he had seen appear on them were gone. He groaned as he struggled to his feet, his head dipped over to protect his eyes; he fumbled with his goggled but couldn't find the strength to pull them over his eyes.

With his mind a flurry of voices and thoughts, he stumbled through the sand, all of it unrecognizable as the wind blew harshly against him. He tucked his arms inside to prevent the sand from further peppering him but it did little to soothe his to flurry of sensations coursing through his body. His mind with what little power it had been focused simply on getting out of the storm, if that was indeed possible.

A constant stream of power kept him on his feet even after he fell down numerous times, sometimes sinking into the sand. One thought poked its way through the infinite number of others.

_Is this how I die?_

He hadn't even entertained the thought of death until a couple hours ago, as he watched Gricus die. It was a word that he now knew that he had once known, in whatever life he had once lived, he had been familiar with it. Its definition was there and there was no mistaking it. On this desert planet, he knew nobody, hunted by one alien race and subjected to a horrific ritual by another.

Thomas didn't know how long he stumbled through the sand, but somehow, his vox headphones began to crackle with static as the storm eased up slightly. He didn't bother with it, he could focus on nothing else but continuing to walk. Whenever he would try to focus on a singular subject, like Gricus and Penelope, his head would ignite with pain in conjunction with his forearms, even though both were protected.

The vox began to show signs of voices, but Thomas kept going his eyes drifting between the ground and whatever was in front of him.

His eyes drifted downward to find the gauntlets that had caused him so much pain on his forearms, their markings reflecting nicely in the sun.

He blinked.

They were gone. The process repeated itself many times over before the vox crackled. Thomas mumbled something incoherent into his microphone and the vox was silent. He didn't want to hear it anymore, he was just too tired. He wondered if it was all a dream.

Could dreams really cause him so much pain?

No.

It was a nightmare he would never wake up from. Then, the vox came through clearly for reasons he could not explain.

**+_KKKSSSCCCHHHKid? Is that you? I've got your signalKKKKSSSSCCCHHH! Stay right way you are, I'm about a mile out!+_**Thomas recognized the voice Captain Crucio, the squadron commander of the Inquisitor's transport pilots. A middle aged man with a heavy accent, Thomas barely recognized the fact that his vox had turned back on, or that he was speaking into it.

Thomas stumbled a bit from the nausea, swaying to one side while a gust blew him back on course. It wasn't so much that there was sand flying around, but sharp winds blew at unusual angles, hitting him from all sides at variable times.

He squeezed his eyes shut as the tears flowed from them and he quickly found it very hard to breathe. Thomas tore at what was left of his shemagh and removed his goggles after a struggle to find the strength to pull them off of him. He threw the goggles and shemagh to the sand before taking in a gulp of air just as his knees buckled.

The boy tumbled down the sand dune, getting sand thrown into his mouth, ears, and nose as he did so. When he finally reached the bottom, he began to hear the unmistakable din of an approaching Valkyrie. Thomas didn't care; he didn't feel like getting up in the first place.

Feedback from the vox caused him to grit his teeth and even though Crucio was shouting orders at him he grabbed his helmet at the chin and forced it off and into the sand in front of him and taking the vox with hit. He felt like vomiting as he breathed and for a moment it almost became a reality but his stomach eased off the feeling.

He lay near the top of a dune and his eyes were fixated on the inside of his helmet, listening to Crucio.

**+Get the kid now! _KKKSSSCCCHHHXenos s_kimmers closing in fast!+ **he heard but he simply lowered the top of his head into the sand, intent on falling asleep even as he felt the strong winds of the Valkyrie's engine's push the sand around him. Crucio maneuvered the dropship so that its bay doors were facing him in the dune pit.

The doors opened and out jumped some of the few remaining Devil Dogs. Thomas still didn't move, trying desperately to remember what Gricus and Penelope sounded like as he felt the locket pressed up against his chest.

He recognized the voice of Mags as she grabbed his shoulders and hauled him up from the sand.

"Kid! Kid!" she yelled as she rolled him over and he found himself staring past her masked face into the sun above, partially obscured by the sand flying overhead. Mags motioned to Drake, "Carry him, he's out of it."

A burly mercenary slung his autorifle over his shoulder and picked up Thomas while Mags grabbed his helmet. The group of Devil Dogs then hurried back to the Valkyrie as quickly as possible. As soon as everyone was on board, Thomas felt the dropship swing around and Mags shouted, "We're still alive back here flyboy! Watch what you're doing!"

**+Ah shut up, I'm keeping you all alive!+ **Crucio retorted as the Valkyrie lifted away from the sand dunes. The sound of pings and smaller objects echoed the hull, but the rugged dropship shrugged off what all those inside were too afraid to acknowledge.

Thomas hung his head over in his seat; he had to be strapped in by Mags' associate because he simply wouldn't move. The only things he could hear were the mumbled voices of those around him, the beat of his heart, and his now calm breath. He did nothing for the entire ride back up to the _Wings _but stare directly at his feet, his eyes occasionally shifting to his forearms.

Nothing occupied the bare skin.

* * *

Captain Tessa had established her frigate in a position in the airspace above Kiliak far above the now reoccupied alien lands, its frame poking out of the clouds gathered up high. Jerard Crucio maneuvered his Valkyrie with the last gathered survivors of Inquisitor Landa's expedition into the one of three hangar bays in the ship's belly.

No one in the dropship had uttered a word since they had recovered Thomas. As Crucio placed the Valkyrie on the deck, the bay doors opened and Thomas' eyes adjusted to the interior light of the ship, wincing at first before blinking again. The seat straps came off and he still didn't move.

"Kid looks like he seen a phantom." the unnamed burly Devil Dog said.

Mags shook her head, "I don't blame him, this ain't a place for kids to run around and play. Get him a cot, and then we'll gather what's left of our own." Thomas felt himself being picked up and thrown over the shoulder of the mercenary as they descended the ramp.

The hangar bay was a horror house.

Screams and cries of pain echoed across the box shaped area as hundreds of men and women either lay in cots or on the ground. Most were bleeding in one place or the other and a portion of those were missing limbs entirely. Thomas didn't care for as loud as the hangar was he only heard his own breath and heart.

His eyes managed to move.

There were far more injured humans present than Thomas had seen on the ground all together. Questions and probable answers came to mind, but they were pushed away by a pulsing word in his mind.

Sister Ortencia and her adeptas were running to and from patients, but she was hopelessly outnumbered. Her white robes had all but turned to the color of the nearby moon and her face easily spoke of exhaustion. Somehow over, she did not take a step back in her energy as her hands were working over wounds with the expertise of a well experienced nurse. The part of Thomas that was still analyzing his surroundings admired her perseverance.

Some of the patients wore uniforms and body armor that acknowledged them as part of the Devil Dogs, they made up a majority of those most heavily injured.

The Magos Explorator simply looked around the hangar from his vantage point near the northwest corner with eyes that gave way to no emotion. He was completely oblivious to the pain at hand, though, he had offered his servitors in service to Sister Ortencia. His head moved back and forth, as if he were trying to comprehend what these humans could possibly be feeling.

The mercenary laid Thomas down in one of the empty cots that were still spotted by dried blood. Thomas stared straight up at the ceiling lights; four bright orbs of light filled his vision.

"Sorry kid." Mags said, and she and her survivors left him.

Thomas didn't reply, as he was oblivious to the pain around him. Images of the fearsome alien woman and the powerful machine being flashed through his mind. The searing pain in his arms. The gauntlets. The symbols.

The glow.

In that moment, he had felt something course throughout his body. He only been awake for barely two months and this was the strangest thing to happen to his body since then. It had traveled...no...it had emanated from the core of his being and spread into every single cell that made him who he was. Perhaps that was the most curious thing of all, it had come from within.

Some part of him vaguely held onto the hope that this was some wild dream. He had them before, especially the one where he was walking in the fields, they had seemed so real. Could the dreams actually cause pain, or did nightmares do that?

He raised his bare forearms into the light, he noticed the spots on his coat where the gauntlets had erased the presence of said coat and replaced the sleeves with themselves. Now both components had disappeared as he felt each forearm and the familiar feeling of his skin responded to his touch. His arms drifted downward over the sides of the cot as he finally closed his eyes.

When he finally fell asleep in the middle of the hangar, he began to move his fingers up and down as they passed through the wheat in his dream.

In it, his chest was bare and he wore sweats to protect him from the sharp plants jutting up from the ground. His hands were calloused and rugged from having experienced this dream many times before, but did not know how many times. The environment was its familiar tint of blue and black, and odd occurrence even for a dream. He looked up into the sky and as he stood still he could actually see the clouds slowly moving across the sky.

He was nearing the top of the crest of the hill; he wondered what was behind-

* * *

_Advent_

_Advent_

_Advent_

* * *

Thomas' eyes flew open and his breath came in short but rapid gasps as he leaned upright suddenly in his cot. His hands gripped the metal bars so hard that his skin began to redden and a gleam of sweat formed on his brow.

Then, he took a sharp intake of breath, and the moment passed.

That was when the pain returned.

He groaned as he felt his face and rib area, nursing the bare skin in an attempt to relive but this time the pain was real and it pulsed in the areas where he had been thoroughly thrashed by the hooded alien woman when he was escaping the alien town. Slowly but carefully, he lay back down in his cot and hissed at the pain but found it more comfortable lying down.

The ceiling did not look like that of the hangar bay he had fallen asleep in, but the familiar one of the infirmary, Sister Ortencia's workplace. His coat and shirt had been removed and his chest and rib area taped. He wiggled his toes at the ends of his feet, feeling enjoyment that he could stretch them outside of his boots.

How did he get here?

_Someone must have brought me here_...he thought as he maneuvered his head to the left. His eyes widened.

Yulia Vas Barraken had propped herself up on her side with her right elbow up against her pillow. When Thomas had first seen her however many short days earlier, she had smiled at him with light blue eyes, short blonde hair, and had rather loudly cracked her knuckles. He vaguely remembered Heidi telling him that Yulia was a brawler-athletic and well-built for her gender and not to understatement her or her small size. She'd taken down a long list of criminals that the retinue had hunted before they even came across Thomas.

Now she had white gauze taped over her left eye and half her arm at the elbow was completely missing, taped up at the end. She was hooked up to fluids from an apparatus behind her cot.

Surprisingly she was smiling; she noticed Thomas' horrified face at the extant of her injuries.

To his even further surprise, she chuckled, "Oh I've had it worse Tommy, much worse, which makes it seem like I'm bragging, but a crazy xenos sword bitch slicing off my arm is probably...hmmm...number four on the worst things that have ever happened to me."

She pointed to her patched eye with her half-arm, "Ortie says I'll probably end up losing it, good thing we got ourselves a master cogboy aboard who can fix me up a cyber-eye with half his processors turned off."

"Ortie? Cogboy?" Thomas asked.

Yulia nodded, "Sissy Ortencia and eh...Eremis. Sorry, I'm not good with formals. Though don't forget to call Landa by his title...or Lord...unless told otherwise, he's usually pretty lax about that."

Thomas gulped, and the two stared at each other for a couple moments.

The woman sighed and nodded her head, "We survived a rough one Tommy, no doubt about it. Fucken xenos just came out of nowhere and suddenly they're all over the town leapin' from building to building! I heard the rumors about them being fast and all but damn...frakken slaughter house it was it was."

She leaned over and laid on her back, looking at the ceiling, "They were all over us. First Greg then Jonathan...poor bastards didn't even know what hit em."

"What?" Thomas asked suddenly, his mind alive with the mention of the other two acolytes.

Yulia turned her head to look at Thomas and looked down at the ground before looking at Thomas, "Gregory and Jonathan are dead."

Thomas simply stared at her with eyes wide.

She shrugged her shoulders, "It was quick, and at least from my perspective it was, painless if you will. It was then that the xenos sword woman jumped me and did this..." she pointed at her injuries, "...to me. Heidi saved my life, shot the fucker straight in her face and dropped her right then and there. Damn she's a good shot."

Thomas slowly placed himself back into his cot, his lips trembling and eyes beginning to water. He looked up at the ceiling as Yulia continued to describe the horrific scene on the ground. For a moment he contemplated telling her what had happened. What he had seen attach to his arms. The machine that called itself the Keeper.

First Penelope, then Gricus, now Gregory and Jonathan-the only people out of the few that had showed him kindness were dead, never to return. The pain in his chest amplified and he groaned and whimpered. He sniffles and chocked cries gave way to his tears and they streamed down his face.

He turned himself away from Yulia as she placed her one and a half arms on her stomach.

"Cry it out Tommy, cry it out."

Thomas did, but he partially restrained himself, afraid to let himself go knowing that there were plenty of people on this ship who had sustained far worse injuries than himself. He turned away from Yulia as she began whistling a tune and closed his eyes. He wanted to go away to his beautiful dream; the only place he knew was safe, away from all the blood and horror, away from everything.

After finding a position where his body didn't hurt so much, he finally cried himself to sleep. Unbeknownst to him outside the infirmary, the _Wings of Dynasty _had pulled out atmosphere of Kiliak, and had entered the warp.

He did not know how long he had been asleep until someone shook him awake, his eyes blinked as they adjusted to the dark, the infirmary now only lit by candles because of that strange tradition by Sister Ortencia.

Thomas looked to the side to see Heidi sitting on the side of the bed closest to the wall, she smiled at him and asked, "Morning rookie."

"How do you know it is...morning?" Thomas asked.

Heidi shrugged, "I like to think it is after every time I get a good rest, but I never really know...sleep well?"

Thomas nodded.

Her cybernetic eye glowed dimly in the dark as she formed a weak smile, "I don't know how you did it, but you did. Some fucken way you managed actually survive an attack by some of the most lethal xenos in the galaxy and what...you've only been awake like two months."

Heidi had coined the term, "awake" as a designation for the time he had spent with them since his diagnosis of severe amnesia.

Thomas nodded but felt his heart sink when he realized the question that Heidi was going to ask next.

"How?"

The boy looked away and at the wall and he considered letting loose all that he had seen and heard. He had nearly done the same for Yulia, so why was he so hesitant to tell her. A fear gripped his throat and his heart rate quickened. He struggled to find an answer that would allow him to stay here, with the Inquisitor and his retinue-the only people who really knew.

Heidi spoke up, "It was them wasn't it? Gricus and Penelope? They saved your life."

That much was true.

Thomas choked out, "Yes."

She bowed her head and sighed, "I'm...sorry Thomas...I know how much they meant to you especially Penelope. Them having convinced Landa to bring you along. They were a great couple...I wish there was more people like them."

Yulia, who was now awake after hearing them, said, "Yeah, they kind appealed to Landa's softer side ya know? Ol' bastard can be as stingy as cogboy sometimes but he gets the job done." she yawned and looked down at her half-arm, "Just not this time."

"I should have raised my suspicions with him earlier. Damn it all I knew it..." Heidi began to growl, "I had...the fucking...suspicion."

The other woman piped up, "Hey cheeks, listen, there is nothing...nothing you could have done...any of us! They came out of the fucking town, like they were there all along. If Landa was calm, why did we need to be suspicious? We trusted him all this time...can't expect to end up with credits in your pockets and a glass of wine at the end of everything."

She narrowed her eyes at Heidi, "Not in this outfit."

Heidi remained stoic and pursed her lips; neither of these women had showed much sadness at the loss of life they had experienced. Yulia in fact almost seemed casual and laid back about it, like she had seen this all before.

"Where's Bart?" Yulia asked.

"Organizing the data we retrieved...you know...Bart's profession." Heidi said nonchalantly, motioning to Thomas with her eyes as a signal to drop that part of the conversation.

Yulia smiled, "Ah, I always expected the little professor to go back to his studies after almost getting his arse sliced off."

There was a silence for a couple moments before Heidi reached into her coat and pulled something out of one of the pockets, Thomas recognized the item immediately and shot up in his bed, his eyes widening.

"When they were wheeling you in here, Bart said this dropped from your hand, he gave it to me to give to you." Heidi said.

The silver chain and small locket were miraculously intact, through all the pain, death, and horror that it had been around. Thomas almost snatched it from Heidi's hands and ran his hands over the smooth surface of the locket.

"What is it?" Heidi asked.

Thomas thumbed the little switch at the bottom of the locket, revealing the portrait of the Vicar family; he gave it to Heidi to look at it.

"Oh." Heidi said, she looked at Yulia, "It's the Vicar's, and their daughter."

Yulia wrinkled her brow, "How'd you get it Tommy?"

Thomas turned his eyes to Yulia, "Gricus gave it to me before he...died." the two women were silent before he continued, "He said...give it to...Tali...Tali Vicar...and...to not waste...my life."

She sighed, "Sounds like something he'd say, though I never knew the name of their daughter. They always kept that information to themselves; only thing I know is that she's been on Trivania or around that system since birth."

Heidi turned back to Thomas and said, "Which brings me to why I'm here. We're being recalled to Trivania, it's a paradise world from the reaches of..." she waved her hand, "...this. That's where were based out of. Landa would like to speak to you as soon as you're up for it. We arrive there in four days."

With that, she gave a sigh and nod to both of them before getting up and leaving without another word.

"Poor cheeks." Yulia clicked her tongue.

Thomas turned to her.

Yulia narrowed her eyes at her, "What, you couldn't see the way she and Greg were eyeing each other before all this? We may be the Inquisition, the most shady organization humanity has to offer, but we're not _inhuman_. Believe me, our outfit is the least crazy of them all."

He blinked, oblivious.

She laughed and sighed out her nose, "She and Greg were gettin' close, she's never been one for that, always business first. Hell, ask Landa, she was the first one he brought on board." she laid her right arm across her stomach and winced at the pain she was still in, "Can't really blame any of us, we've all lost."

Thomas finally got the gist of what she was saying and felt the same pity for Heidi, even if he hadn't noticed it. Then again, being the strong woman that she was, she probably wouldn't need it. While he himself felt destroyed without Gricus and Penelope, Heidi hadn't even shed a tear.

He looked down at the open trinket, at the younger versions of Gricus and Penelope, at baby Tali. The promise he had made Gricus was still at the forefront of his mind, and if Tali was on Trivania, he was sure that he was going to give it to her. His face sagged when he realized that the girl didn't even know that her parents were dead.

He lay back in his cot.

His eyes occasionally drifted to his bare forearms.

He shuddered each time.

* * *

_Can humanity conquer the stars through its iron fist? Overwhelming? Subduing? Crushing? Erasing? Purging? The answer comes to me in bits of pieces. Each of my failures stares at me in a different way; each of my sons represents a field that I failed. Was I wrong to take them in? What was my mindset when I did so?_

_The One does not know you like I do. The bond between father and son, no matter how separated they have become, is stronger than ancient creationism. This is a bond I seek to rectify, to make anew, and to start over. My sons...my warrior angels...I should have known._

_But..._

_You who stands apart from his older siblings._

_You..._

_You who knows not of his destiny...is it so right that we keep you in the darkness?_

_Yes...yes it is right...Even now the malevolent ones scan the mortal plane, searching for anything that may challenge their rule. Their rule...an idea that they believe secure with my fall from grace. With the corruption of my sons they believe they have all but strangled the life from me._

_But..._

_It was an involuntary notion; an act even I did not know would have consequences such as this. The passing down of blood lineage over the ages that humanity has existed. This act, hidden from my sight by the intricate evolution of our species...has created you...This act has involuntarily created the key, the key to the survival of our species and the galaxy itself._

_You..._


	14. Requirements of Service

**A/N: Its been quite a while since I last updated and now that I'm out of school I hope to do a lot more before I eventually go back in August. Chapter 1 will be rewritten soon and the next chapter after this one will also be out soon as well.**

**I try to put the average length of chapters between 8-10,000 words but with multiple scene changes it can sometimes just get too clunky and confusing. This short of chapter I hope to be a rarity.**

**If you have any questions regarding anything about the stories or anything else, feel free to PM me.**

* * *

Thomas had been standing in front of the round door that led to Landa's room for some time now. The painted skull and "I" did not cause him to hesitate as when he had first been here, but rather he knew that it was simply the insignia of the Inquisition, the organization that he knew at least Heidi, Yulia, and Bart all worked for.

With Landa at the helm.

Most of the conversation that they had had before the events on Kiliak had flown over his head, but now with all that Thomas had seen and the horror he had just experienced, he was doing his best to recollect what they had discussed.

He looked down at his forearms, once again covered with a replacement tunic. The gauntlets that he had seen form and ignite on his skin were nowhere to be seen, a fact that made him swallow uncomfortable. He hadn't stopped asking himself questions since he had been able to stabilize himself and actually get out of the infirmary.

However, there was one larger question that pushed its way to the forefront.

"Should I tell someone?" he asked, and the silence answered him.

He was no longer in any excruciating pain, just bruised where he'd been beaten by the alien women. It was unfortunate that he couldn't say the same for Yulia...or Jonathan...or Gregory. Now that the latter two were gone, silence had begun to reclaim the areas where Thomas had seen them around the ship.

Walking forward, he stood a couple inches away from the door and put his ear up to it to try and listen for the Inquisitor, but it was as quiet in the dead end hallway as it was cold and he retracted himself. Looking up and down its length, he raised his right fist.

Suddenly, the access light on the right wall switched to green and the large security door began to open vertically. Thomas noted that it was indeed very thick, probably why he wasn't able to hear anything in the first place. He looked into the room to see Landa sitting at his table with a variety of papers scattered across it. The Inquisitor had a reading glass in his right hand and his eyes shifted to look at Thomas standing awkwardly with his hand raised to knock on the now raised door.

"Do come in Mr. Makeo and have a seat." Landa said and looked back down at his papers.

Thomas entered and sat down at the table while the security door closed behind him. His eyes glazed over the various papers and scrolls but he didn't see anything that caught his attention so he looked up at the Inquisitor. Landa continued scanning one paper in particular until he shook his head.

"Gah. My apologies for the mess." He said and gathered up the papers and scrolls and deposited them into a bag hanging off his chair. Sweeping the table clear of any further clutter, he placed his hands on it and gave Thomas a slight smile.

"Well? How do you feel?" he asked.

"Fine...sir."

Landa waved his hand, "No need for formalities Mr. Makeo, we've all suffered these past couple days and a fitting gesture would be to do away with the inhibitors that keep you and I from speaking normally. You didn't seem to mind calling the Vicars by their names."

Thomas looked up from the table and at Landa at the mention of the Vicars.

He nodded his head slowly, "They will be missed, a terrible tragedy to have such bright individuals lost to the horrors of the great war." he thought for a moment before he continued, "You may refer to me as simply, "Landa", you will find that my associates do the same."

Thomas nodded.

The Inquisitor blinked at the boy and asked, "What may I call you?"

"Thomas." came the immediate reply.

Landa smiled and nodded again, "But of course."

Leaning back in his chair, Landa folded his arms across his stomach, "There are others like me, Inquisitors or other high ranking personnel, who find it infuriating or in some instances insulting not to refer to them by their title...gah...what am I saying, everyone is unique."

Thomas was still silent, after a while Landa chuckled, "I imagine your silence is what kept you alive down there."

This time, Thomas shook his head and remembered the conversation he shared with Heidi, "Gricus and Penelope...they...saved my life."

"Ah, it is as I suspected." Landa said as he leaned back in his chair and pulled a writing utensil from his bag as well as a pad to write on. He flipped a couple of pages that Thomas saw had writing on before he came to a blank page and flicked the end of the utensil against it rapidly for a couple of moments.

He didn't look at Thomas but said, "I would like to ask you a couple of questions regarding to your visit to the alien facility that we both visited and the events leading up our very meeting this moment. You remember of course."

Thomas looked away from the Inquisitor and shivered before looking back and saying, "Yes."

"Now." he said as he licked his fingers as he turned the pages, "Is their anything you would like to inform me about before we begin? Anything that could possibly lead to us better understanding each other and what happened down there by the time we are done."

Thomas' eyes slowly lowered to the table and he gulped, he was sure the Inquisitor had spotted that. He wondered intently if he should inform the Inquisitor about everything that had happened since he had watched Gricus die, since going into the ground. He sucked in his breath before he shivered.

"Remember that I will think you of no less no matter what you say-"

"I have the same dream every time I fall asleep."

Landa raised his eyebrows, surprised, "Oh?"

Thomas nodded once and continued, "From the first time...I fell asleep on this ship...till' a couple of hours ago...it has been the...same." he finally looked up at the Inquisitor, hoping he would press further and indeed he did.

"Could you describe it for me?" he flipped his utensil into a writing posture.

"There is a blue tint...to this environment. The hills are rolling with...wheat? Brown grass. No...something...something I let my left hand feel." He said, raising his hand and putting it on the table, "I walk through the hills brushing...the tops...of the plants. My chest is bare, the wind is blowing against my skin.

He stopped to let Landa write down notes and part of Thomas wondered what the Inquisitor could possible be writing. Sometimes he stopped to tap his utensil against his chin and then made strokes with the quill that didn't exactly look like writing.

Finally he nodded at Thomas to continue.

"The hills continue for a long time but...there is a large wall...in the distance. Spreading from east to west as far as I can...see." Thomas blinked as he found his fingers hovering above the table, "Beyond that...is a larger hill...a building is atop it. Trees line the path...up to the...the..." Thomas struggled and then finished, "House."

"Are you sure?" Landa asked, not looking up at him.

"What?"

"That is a house? Who knows what it could be?" He said, tapping the utensil on his pad of paper.

"Right...I...don't know."

"So you say that is the only dream you have had since you came aboard this ship? Nothing else? No one else?" Landa asked, and Thomas nodded. The Inquisitor narrowed his eyes, "How very odd, and it hasn't changed a single bit?"

Thomas opened his mouth and then shut it, fearful, of what he had only just dreamed about in the last couple hours.

Landa noticed this and kicked his legs up on the table as he leaned back, "Remember Thomas, you can tell me anything, and I will not think any less of you. Its only reasonable." and continued scribbling on his paper.

The swallowed his bile and stared at the Inquisitor, almost fighting with himself before he blurted out, "This past dream, there is something...new. There is blood on my...no..._covering_...my arms."

"Yours?" Landa asked.

"I saw no...wounds."

"True? How interesting. Dreams are interesting landscapes and long has it been since we realized that even the most malevolent of forces can touch us where we once thought we were untouchable." He looked back down at his pad and continued writing before saying, "It is my job to take in every bit of detail and evidence I can to formulate an answer or come to a conclusion. Now while our conversation didn't exactly start the way I wanted to, I do find your dream most peculiar...but what can I say for someone suffering your condition?"

He tore off the paper he was working and looked at it for a moment before smiling and turning it over to Thomas.

Thomas gasped as he looked at Landa's work.

It wasn't a complete work, but rather a detailed sketch of the environment in Thomas' dream. There was a figure standing in what looked like wheat, but Landa had drawn it from the back, as if he was detailing what he had seen from behind Thomas. It was all there-the feathery clouds, the wall in the distance, the building atop the hill.

He looked up at Landa.

The Inquisitor spread his hands, "If I had more time and the proper paints I could have done a much better job." he pursed his lips, "I wanted to be an artist when I was your age and by the saints did I practice when I was young. Unfortunately when one's parents are of high rank in his majesty's navy there is only one destination for sons and daughters like me."

"What?" Thomas asked, still bewildered.

"The Schola Progenium. Yes...in went Benjamin Landa the artist and out came Benjamin Landa the Interrogator of Lady Inquisitor Bethelda Tartin of the Ordo Herticus. Who would have thought? Certainly not me. I actually wasn't too much older than you when I graduated." He said, looking at Thomas peculiarly.

The two stared at each other for a couple moments before Landa continued, "Why don't you keep that with you? Maybe give you something to think about in your spare time. For now, let us continue with my original plans." He said as he flipped through his pad again.

"I would like to ask you a series of questions regarding the events on Kiliak. I know it was a traumatic experience for someone such as yourself but I ask that you do your best to recall, am I clear?"

Thomas nodded wearily.

"Why do you think I want to ask you these questions Thomas?" Landa asked, cocking his head away from Thomas but still looking at him. The way in the Inquisitor's body was positioned gave Thomas an uncomfortable feeling, like the Inquisitor was driving him to a certain answer.

He searched for an answer and fear began to creep into his spine, what if the Inquisitor found out what had really happened down there, what would he do to him? What would he think of him?

Thomas said, "To know."

Landa pursed his lips, "Partially yes, to fill in the blanks is the more correct answer actually." he exhaled out his nose and said, "Many good people lost their lives, all I am trying to do is find out how this happened, in order to prevent such things from occurring again. Wouldn't you agree?"

The thought of living through the experience many times over frightened Thomas and he nodded his head.

"Good. Now, Heidi tells me you found something interesting down underground. I do appreciate you for uploading your mission recorder footage to Eremis' network when you returned to camp on the other hand." Landa said and he pulled a small cylindrical object out of his coat pocket, holding it up for Thomas to see.

His heart dropped in his chest.

It was his mission recorder.

The one that had been attached to his helmet the _entire _time.

Landa handed it to him, "Bart pulled it off of you when you arrived with the remaining Devil Dogs. I've taken a look at the footage up until you arrived back at camp. Then, it seems you forgot to turn it on when the xenos attacked."

Slight relief began to return to Thomas' mind, but he knew he wasn't home free just yet. He extended his hand towards it but Landa retracted his hand, putting it in his coat pocket, "I'll hold onto this for the time being."

Thomas was still for a moment before retracting his own hand.

The Inquisitor again returned to his pad and paper, "Thomas...do you know...just...what was it that, that killed so many down there?"

_The boy caught sight of cloud white hair tied together in a braid, a face obscured by a hood with too angular of features to be human. Narrow eyes with little light to them latched onto his and he quickly realized they were not friendly in any way._

Thomas sucked in a breath before shivering and replying, "Alien."

"Correct! I'm glad you recognized the difference between us and the Eldar." Landa smiled.

The boy looked up at the Inquisitor at the sound of the alien name and repeated the word, "Eldar."

"Indeed, I'm sure the Vicars informed you about them once or twice I trust?"

Thomas nodded.

"Good! You already know more about them than a sizable chunk of the Imperium...and that is all you should ever know." Landa's voice suddenly became far more cooler than it had been and his eyes bore into Thomas' own. Something about Landa's stare told him that it wasn't just a suggestion.

He nodded once, "You'll find more sanctioned information in that book that Mrs. Vicar gave you if you dare to continue."

Thomas nodded not as feverishly as he once did.

"Now...Thomas...describe to me the moment you realized the xenos were attacking." Landa said, smiling and gesturing for Thomas to talk.

He shifted uneasily in his seat for what seemed like the thousandth time, but there was no keeping things from the Inquisitor now. Thomas took a deep breath and began, "There was...a ringing in my ears, it began to hurt. Only, it wasn't...a ringing...it sounded like a...a..."

"Scream?" Landa asked, his eyebrows perking.

Thomas thought about it for a moment before nodding. He continued, "Then the vox...people began to scream...in pain. There was something...out there. Killing."

"Now you know what that something is." Landa interjected.

Thomas nodded but shook it off as he said, "There was an explosion, they were in the bunker...I got out...and I saw one of them. In the storm." he breathed, "Much too fast."

"That is one way we classify the Eldar." Landa said, writing on his pad.

Thomas played with his fingers on the table, "One of them...attacked me."

"How did you survive?" Landa looked up at him with intense eyes.

The boy felt almost forced to blurt out, "G-G-Gillian." he felt his body tense up under the Inquisitor's gaze.

The Inquisitor nodded and wrote on his pad, "Ah, one of the few respectable mercenaries of that group. Continue please."

Thomas took yet another breath and tried hard to piece together the events correctly without skipping over details. For the next half hour, he recollected every intricate memory he could with Landa sometimes going back to reaffirm what he had heard and asking questions that sometimes made Thomas squirm in his seat, as if to make Thomas unsure if he had even experienced Kiliak in the first place.

When they were nearly finished, Landa had many pages of notes dedicated to their conversation and he looked quite pleased with himself.

"Now, you say that you and Mr. Vicar were the only ones that survived via the trucks. Regrettably Mr. Vicar passing away not a while longer after that, am I correct?"

Thomas nodded.

"Now how did Captain Crucio come across you in the desert? Nearly twenty miles from the alien town where we operated?" again the Inquisitor bore into him with an expression that rattled Thomas internally.

"I...I walked." Thomas began but Landa held up a hand.

"Thomas...let me be straightforward with you. You're sweating, your hands are shaking and your words are becoming somewhat more difficult to comprehend." He folded his hands on the table, "Do you have anything to fear from me?"

Thomas wanted to say so much, how the presence of this man and how each time he looked at him was making him increasingly uncomfortable. He didn't understand why. He didn't understand why he was so afraid of Inquisitor Landa.

"No." he responded.

"That's what I thought, please continue...you were saying you walked?" he asked, returning to his notes.

"Yes...I...walked." Thomas said, realizing the magnitude of what he was leaving out.

"That's it?" Landa raised an eyebrow.

Thomas didn't answer but gave a nod of his head.

"Are you lying to me Thomas?"

The phrase caused Thomas to grip the edges of the table tightly, something the Inquisitor noticed as he raised an eyebrow. The elder man almost looked amused as he said, "I sincerely hope you are not Thomas, lying to an Inquisitor is a capital offense."

"No!" Thomas blurted out, suddenly much more alive, "I'm just..." he balled his fists and squeezed his eyes shut. Through clenched teeth he finished, "I'm just scared."

"Scared of what?"

"Everything!" this time Thomas realized how far he had leaned out of his seat and he looked around. Landa had raised an eyebrow and had leaned back in his chair as Thomas slowly sat back down, confused at his actions.

Landa gestured with his hand, "Completely understandable."

Thomas looked up.

The Inquisitor laughed, "Thomas...allow me to shock you. I believe you."

The boy's heart leaped in his chest.

"My dear boy...you just survived an attack by one of if not the most dangerous xenos enemies the Imperium has ever encountered! You think I would punish you for your fear? Ha! Oh what tales of puritan and fanatical Inquisitors you must have heard in your previous life." Landa threw his head back and laughed out loud, further confusing Thomas.

The Inquisitor calmed down, "Oh I'm not like most Inquisitors Thomas. Some may even call me...unconventional, but if I succeed in the mission, does it matter anyway? I suppose I didn't this time, and it was a particular blunder on my part. For that I must atone for mistakes."

Again, he opened his hands, "Back to what I was saying, if that is the end of your story...that you simply walked until the Captain caught onto your vox transceiver...then that will be the end of it. Your perspective fits neatly into those I have interviewed prior to you."

Thomas sighed and bowed his head.

"I thank you for your contribution Thomas, you were most helpful." Landa nodded. Thomas took this as a sign that he was free to go and made to stand. However the Inquisitor raised his hand.

"Ah ah, I know you're anxious to leave this boring and dreary place and believe me I would be to if I was in your place. However I just have one question regarding your trip into the xenos facility, the one you visited with all of us." Landa said and moved around the table to a spot adjacent to Thomas so that they both faced the opposite wall. He placed a finger on a certain spot on the table and it lit up a teal color where he had touched it.

Thomas' attention was again drawn to the wall where it had lit up in a projection as the lights in the office dimmed. Now he could see a perspective he knew he had seen before.

"Does it look familiar?" asked Landa and pressed yet another spot on the table.

The image on the wall began to move and Thomas could hear the distinct sound of his very own breath as he moved through the xenos facility. The way the video bobbed up and down suggested that this was footage from his mission recorder that had been attached to the top of his helmet. He remembered the dark corridors he was moving through the suspended platforms in the massive cavern.

Landa waved his hand as the video continued, "I'm not so concerned about most of the footage, even that little map or grid you accessed with the touch of your finger. My teams and I encountered similar mechanisms, features, technologies and such but...that's a little above your pay grade." He chuckled.

Thomas watched the recording curiously, flinching as he heard his own scream when he had dropped in the hole in the corridor.

"Now...everything in your recording checks out and it is all very useful. I thank you again for remembering to actually record." Landa said but then he turned to the video on the wall and narrowed his eyes, "However...there was just something in this that I...I just couldn't grasp. I was hoping you would be able to elaborate for me. I just have one question."

Thomas nodded, "Of course."

Thomas realized that he was now alone in the winding halls of the lower platform, perplexed as to why he could not see...

_"Virgil! Stop!" _the recording of his voice rang out and Thomas could see his own hand extend towards something invisible in front of him as he turned corners.

Then, the video stopped and the lights returned to the office.

Landa slowly turned to Thomas.

Thomas froze completely, he didn't even look at Landa.

"Who is Virgil?"


	15. Not So Clean Slate

**A/N: As I reminder, I do accept all reviews that are critical in nature and question certain aspects of the story. I make mistakes six years after having joined fanfiction and I probably still will in the future. Basically, I'm still learning to write stories of all types. That being said, I don't believe I deserve to be ranted on and cussed out because of what people don't agree with or don't understand. It's my story and I decided what to do with it-but it's not like I blatantly disregard canon and refuse what has been written in stone.**

**What I will not accept are crazed rants and outright flames, people who are writing them and have written them will know what they are doing.**

**For those that are disappointed with the pace of the story and its characters I say this-as described in the **_summary_** of the story-this is a journey, not a short story. I can't tell you how many chapters it will take from beginning to end because there are so many concepts and ideas I want to explore. If being on board for a 120,000+ word story doesn't sit well with you, you are more than welcome to exit at any time.**

**Thanks for your continued consideration.**

**Split this chapter up to be easier on the reading, next part will be posted shortly.**

* * *

**A few hours later...**

He couldn't count the days, it was long since he'd seen an actual day and night and thus is sleep schedule was rather tumultuous. Still, the dream remained. Thomas didn't want to accept it, he wanted to walk into Penelope and Gricus' workstation and find them still there, studying alien technology. The lingering bruises and sometimes routine pain spikes reminded him of just what he had seen on the world called Kiliak.

When Landa had asked him if he felt anything against the aliens that had killed Gricus, Penelope, and so many others, he hadn't known what to think or even how to. The look on the Inquisitor's face told him that he was expecting some sort of answer, but it was almost as if there was a roadblock in his mind preventing him from coming to a conclusion.

What was he supposed to feel? Anger? Fear? Sadness? It was rather a mix of those and many more. He'd been born nearly a month ago and already he had been thrust into the horrors that this life had to offer him. While he was quite sure he'd barely seen an inch of that horror, no part of him wanted to admit it.

So much physical pain and it all lingered in his body and mind somewhere. The tape around his ribs was still delicate and he tried not to make too hard of moves even with Ortencia's advice to keep resting. The problem was, he was restless.

The words of the Keeper...the alien machine...rang in his ears.

...not human.

The two alien women that had nearly killed him, burned in his mind, their faces as clear as daylight.

Eldar.

...not human.

Thomas reached down and turned on the faucet to hot, allowing the water to run into his hands and he splashed it on his face. He looked down and watched the water funnel into the sink and disappear below. He looked up at the mirror on the wall in front of him and studied himself. The restroom was only large enough for one person, and he'd been in here for quite some time.

The only sound that could be heard was the gentle hum of the overhead lights and the occasional crew member of the vessel passing by outside.

He sighed and shook his head as he closed his eyes, he didn't want to believe any of it, but a man as charismatic and straightforward as Landa had beat that into him.

Now, he was being abandoned again, starting over just as he had on his birth planet. It was all a lingering nightmare and it made him dig his nails into his hair as tears fell into the sink. He sniffled a bit before wiping his eyes and looking at his reflection again.

The Inquisitor hadn't believed him, and some of the more stinging statements of the second half of their conversation pushed themselves to the forefront of his mind.

* * *

_"You truly have lost all that once had haven't you Thomas? Seeing hunched invisible men, dreaming needlessly, surviving full scale onslaughts by man hating aliens, walking naked around what may very well have been your home world, and greatest of all...the audacity to believe he is telling the truth."_

_"What did you hope to gain by joining with the most secretive and clandestine organization known to man? Experience? Housing? Sustenance? You're just a boy. Your body and speech say teenager but your mind screams a babe crying out for constant nurturing. His Majesty's Holy Inquisition cannot be held back by the needs of a child."_

_"I am not your father. Gricus and Penelope were your handlers, now less than five of their original thirty-six strong retinue are alive. You are not as familiar with them am I correct?"_

_"I have more important matters to attend to than the caring of an amnesic boy. When we arrive on Trivania, I will make arrangements to put you where you belonged in the first place, an orphanage. You are dismissed...Thomas."_

* * *

Thomas felt a tear coming down his cheek and this time he wiped it away without a second thought, spreading the water over his cheeks and washing away the sand and dirt he still believed was on his face. He spat in the sink.

Looking up, he stared at his reflection and his blood shot eyes, his thoughts an utter mess on what to focus on next. Leaning over, he ran his hands through his hair and thought about the Inquisitor's words.

They had stung and no matter how much he wanted to refute them, the words simply could not form in his mouth because he knew it was the truth. What had he helped with? What use was he to this crew except end up in the infirmary every couple of days? He did his best to throw the thoughts away and focus on something else. He closed his eyes and breathed again.

When he opened them he asked his reflection, "What use am I?"

"More than you know."

Thomas nearly jumped out of his skin, for this voice he recognized but was still surprised by. In the reflection of the mirror was the same hunched man that had gotten him into this mess in the first place.

Virgil was standing near the back wall in the reflection but when Thomas turned around, he was not there. He looked back at the reflection and the mysterious man was still there, yet he clearly was not behind Thomas. The boy continued to look back and forth, bewildered.

"It is not your fault." Virgil in the reflection said.

"What is?" Thomas asked the space behind him where Virgil clearly was not present, a little more heat to his voice.

The man bowed his head in the mirror and lightly tapped his staff on the ground.

Thomas' chest was rising and falling more rapidly, "What is not my fault?" his voice clear and comprehensible this time.

Virgil looked up but his eyes remained hidden behind his helmet. He spoke, "What you experienced was not your fault."

"I...died!" Thomas threw his arm downward in a growing temperament.

"But you did not, you survived." the man replied.

"Here, and here!" Thomas slapped his head and the right of his chest, indicating his mind and heart, "Penelope and Gricus...the man and woman you gave me a chance...are gone! All of them, gone!"

"Their deaths are not your fault."

Thomas simply stared at the "reflection" of Virgil in the mirror. He reached forward to place his hand against the mirror, noticing the gauntlet on his right forearm.

At first his mind didn't register it.

Then his vision was filled with the memories of excruciating pain, the alien women, the gigantic machine from the desert, and the machine being that called itself the Keeper. Thomas stumbled back, stunned and hurt from the recollection as he raised both arms, eyes wavering in fear.

"Wha...What is this?" he whispered worryingly, staring at the metallic gauntlets that covered his forearms and then looking to Virgil. The man approached the sink from his reflection universe, not even the sound of his staff hitting the ground could be heard, only his voice.

"A chance. A chance to prove yourself." Virgil responded nonchalantly.

"What chance? Speak clearly!" the boy demanded.

Virgil straightened up a bit but more or less remained hunched somewhat, almost as if he was lifting his head. The man was silent for a moment before saying, "If only I could, Thomas, if only I could."

Suddenly, Virgil's voice was much clearer, causing Thomas to look behind him-seeing the man now standing before him instead of in the mirror. However, Thomas backed away from him.

"Inquisitor didn't believe me. I told him. About you. I see you. He doesn't believe me." Thomas said.

Virgil was silent as the two circled each other around the restroom, he then spoke up, "Who would believe a boy who speaks such nonsense, when he suffers from a terrible condition? Who would believe the boy that has done nothing to aid his superior? Who would believe the boy who is nothing but extra weight, waiting to be cast off."

"I am not extra...weight!" Thomas shouted.

"Then what are you?" Virgil snapped, "What can you do? Can you fight? Can you even speak coherently? Can you do nothing but weep for yourself and those that you have lost? No...I did not guide you to this place so that you may wallow in pity!" The man slammed his staff on the ground.

"Then why?" Thomas threw his hands up in the air in an exasperated gesture, "Why? Why did you help me?"

He breathed, angrily fighting back the tears he knew were forming in his eyes, "What...am I?"

Virgil looked up from his circling of Thomas and stopped in his place. He looked away for a moment before walking over to Thomas, who made no move to move away from the man. When he let go of his staff mid-step, it stood up straight despite the weight at its top. He reached down to take hold of Thomas' arms and lifted them up to waist height.

"There would be too many descriptions to accurately describe what you are, and what you carry." Virgil said and ran his fingers along the gauntlets and the black stones that lay in their rounded our holdings towards the top of the gauntlets. "I could lie to you, force you off topic, guide you in the direction that I want."

Thomas stared at him.

"But I will not." Virgil let go of Thomas' arms.

"Why do you help me?" Thomas asked again.

Virgil answered, "I guided you to that couple all those days ago because you would have succumbed to...starvation on your birth planet..." he cocked his head, "and death by all manners aliens in these...months you have spent with this assortment of a crew."

He opened his hands, "Why did I do it? What benefit would come to me...as a result of preventing your death." he looked at Thomas and the boy looked at him.

"To see you righted."

Thomas scrunched his face into one of confusion.

"You're ailment is known to me the most, Thomas Makeo. You cannot remember anything but your name can you not?"

Thomas shook his head.

"I will help you regain that which you have so wrongfully lost."

The boy looked up with eyes wide and a spirit raised on since meeting Penelope and Gricus for the first time. He stumbled over the words before saying, "I can...regain my memory?"

"Is that what you truly want?" Virgil asked.

"Yes!"

"Then you would be wise to acknowledge the costs of such a desire. Your condition leaves you clueless, a stranger within your own body, your mind a jumble of experiences and gestures you know not where you learned them from. Whatever you were before, you will never be again."

Virgil's last words struck a deep chord within Thomas, what had he been before he had lost his memory. He looked down at his body before inevitably coming to the gauntlets attached to his arms, shivering each time he laid eyes upon them.

The elder man began to circle Thomas, "Grave terrors and unthinkable horrors lie in wait for you, far beyond the aliens you have encountered. These are the obstacles that lay in your path-they will misguide you, tempt you, and attempt to do unimaginable things to you."

Thomas trembled at the thought.

"Hence, my asking, is this what you truly want, and for what reason?"

"I have no other purpose." Thomas replied.

Virgil smiled slowly to the point that Thomas realized the man was being genuine.

"Oh. I think you will find the definition of purpose will varies from the standard, especially with you." Virgil walked around towards the entrance to the restroom, picking up his staff as he went.

He turned slightly to Thomas, "My definition is clear, to help you right yourself, for I have but no other reason otherwise. That...is my purpose" His smile faded, "The same horrors that you will face in your recovery also hunt myself and all life. No longer will I guide you by the hand each day, for I must also...survive."

Thomas found himself replying, "Understandable." but not exactly understanding the man's words fully.

"Quite. I have gotten you to your feet, now it is you who must walk." Virgil responded, "But..." he shifted his staff in his hands, "Should you ever require a more definitive answer to your purpose..."

Thomas blinked and stared more intently at Virgil.

"Seek me out among the stars, and I shall more than willing to help."

Virgil nodded, "Farewell." with that, the man that had saved Thomas' live as well as cause it pain simply faded away into nothingness, his body simply disappearing into thin air without even a hint it had been there. Thomas walked over to the spot where Virgil had been, there was no trace of him, not even footprints.

"Seek you out." Thomas echoed Virgil's words, he looked at his forearms.

The gauntlets were gone, leaving only bare skin behind.

* * *

The days passed by unknowingly to Thomas, he didn't even think that he'd seen the _Wings of Dynasty _in its entirety on the inside or outside. Neither had he met its apparently famed captain, the Rogue Trader by the name of Jesel Tessa. As to what a Rogue Trader was, Thomas did not know.

One place that Penelope had shown him intermittently before her death was one of the many viewing decks for simple pleasure or sightseeing. He had expected to see the sky that appeared at night but every time he had had come here the exterior windows had been shuttered. No noise, no sights.

He stood on one now. The room was a half circle with three primary windows meant for an observer to peer out in the void of space. Twice Thomas had come here before and they had always been shuttered and completely void of sound, apparently to do with the danger of seeing what was on the outside of those shutters.

Heidi had called it, the Warp.

He could only wonder and still no sound came. His eyes looked from one pane to the other but the viewing deck remained quiet save for a gentle hum of power.

After a few minutes, the sound of the door to the viewing deck opened and Thomas recognized the voice of Heidi, "Oh, I didn't know that you knew about this place." her footsteps drawing closer as she walked to stand near him.

"Penelope showed it to me." Thomas responded, but didn't look at her. They stood in silence for a couple moments, Heidi was surprised that Thomas was not still weeping away his troubles.

She finally spoke, "Landa informed me of his plan once we reach Trivania." Thomas looked up at her and she met his gaze, he betrayed no emotion.

"Perhaps he is...right. Perhaps...I am better off...without a home." Thomas said, looking forward.

"Now hold on, he didn't mean that. Look at it Thomas, he's doing a favor for you that ninety-nine percent of Inquisitors wouldn't even do for their own acolytes. The Inquisition...us..." she pursed her lips, "We're an organization that no one should ever want to get involved with. Everything you seen is just the sugar-coated aspects."

Thomas looked back at her.

Her one good eye stared down at him, "The things I've seen done to people, the things that I've done. They make Kiliak look like a walk in the park." Thomas blinked, but the analogy caused him to shiver.

"You would rather me not be...here. With you." Thomas said.

Heidi sighed, "You're putting words into my mouth. Let me be straightforward..." she turned fully to Thomas, "I agree with Landa's decision not because I see you as a hindrance like he does, but because you're just not..." she fumbled with the words, "Inquisition material."

She continued, "Landa is doing this mostly because he holds himself responsible for what happened to Penelope, Gricus and their team. He sees them every time he lays eyes on you and that stings him, something he can't afford to have lasting effect on him."

She thought about her words before she sighed again and waved her hands, "Let me rephrase that."

"No. I understand."

Heidi was surprised.

"I am not a killer." he said firmly, "I am not like you. Perhaps I am...somebody else?"

Heidi gave a weak smile, "Right. Of course, who knows what will happen once you reach you're new home. Some...good family will probably adopt you and probably do a better job at treating your condition than us." She shrugged, "Maybe you'll grow up to be...I don't know...a shopkeeper, a trader, a politician, a farmer, who knows."

She reached forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, "But I would prefer it if you never again became woven in with the Inquisition. People like us-Landa, Bart, Yulia and I...we're rare. You'll most likely never come across another group of Inquis-" she realized where she was going and stopped.

To her further surprise, Thomas' lips were beginning to curl into a smile, "I understand. I...agree. I do not belong here, but somewhere else."

"Exactly, and you_ stay _there. Wherever that is, anywhere but here." She raised her eyebrows and gave him a stern look.

Thomas nodded.

They returned to looking at the window panes but after a couple moments, Thomas could not help but ask, "Why do you do this for me?"

"What?"

"Why do you treat me so? You said...you are not like the others of the...Inquisition." Thomas said, trying to form the right words to ask.

Heidi stared at him before exhaling through her nose, "Perhaps you just need to experience...other teams to know, but the fact that you won't get a chance...Well let's just say you're better off with the current path that you're on."

Thomas looked at the woman, according to Yulia, this women was beyond deadly-fully capable of dispatching him with no effort. The entire team was like that though Thomas had yet to see Bart carry a weapon for one reason or the other. Now Landa's "team" was down to four including himself where it once was six.

Perhaps she was right, perhaps Landa was right, he was no scientist like Penelope and Gricus. He needed to find himself in the coming days, or else he didn't know what he would do.

Curiously, he found Virgil's recent words ringing true.

The ship began to rumble and Thomas looked down at his feet, he looked to Heidi who was paying more attention to the shuttered windows than anything else.

A human voice came over the observation room's loudspeaker, a female one at that he had not heard before, "**All hands, prepare for imminent translation.**" and cut out.

"Whose that?" Thomas asked.

"You've never met Captain Tessa?" Heidi asked, raising the eyebrow on her one good eye.

The ship stopped rumbling and he could hear the low dim of the generators in the room hum once more. Then, the shutters slowly began to retract, layer over layer vertically until they had reached the top of the viewing panels. Thomas' eyes widened.

He had seen it in the night skies on Kiliak when the sands weren't blowing, but being so close to the void with all its twinkling stars and distant nebulas was a sight to behold. For the briefest of moments, he was at peace with this scene. In the distance, he could see a planet in the backdrop or at least part of it. It had to be Trivannia, which according to Landa, was the team's unofficial "home".

The sight didn't last, as Heidi gestured to him, "Let's go."

Thomas had been dreading this moment ever since Heidi had almost pressured him to go, nevertheless, he had agreed.

They were silent as they passed halls and corridors, crew members and half-human, half-machines. Thomas had yet to go back to the infirmary in some time since the disaster that had befallen this ship and its inhabitants on Kiliak. He figured he would only be taking up space in Sister Ophelia's eyes.

Heidi took him past doors that required certain clearances, ones probably even the crew couldn't access. The spaces reserved for the ship's Inquisition representatives and high ranking officers. When they entered one room near the aft of the ship, a small one similar to the auditorium Heidi had found him in, but its purpose differed greatly.

There were two coffins laid out on rails, the sight of which caused Thomas' stomach to drop. He looked over to Landa who was standing on the far end of the two, flipping through a small book in his hands. Yulia and Bart were already present while the former was in a wheel chair hooked up to a fluid apparatus with one of Sister Ortencia's adepta's behind her.

There was a man present who wore brilliant white robes and a pointed cap. Thomas would have mistaken him for Virgil had his staff not been more ornamental and the colors far more bright. He waved a ball on a chain over the two coffins while speaking in a language that Thomas didn't recognize.

The smoke that was coming from the ball produced an intricate smell Thomas had never come across. To his surprise, it calmed him from the sight of the dead it waved over. The man handed the incense spreader over to his similarly dressed assistant and began waving his hands over the coffins, still uttering the same language.

His eyes drifted to the coffins again as Heidi walked up to the one on the left as the robed man moved away. He looked to everyone else but no one seemed to be focused on him or anyone else. He cautiously walked over to the coffin on the right and read the writing on its cover.

**JONATHAN POE**

There were no other inscriptions.

He stared at the cover for some time, thinking back to a time where Jonathan had joked with him before they'd even gone to the surface of Kiliak. Thomas realized that he couldn't have shared more than a hundred words with the man. He barely remembered something about an alien called an Ork, spots of blue hair, and rubbing his knuckles into Thomas' hair.

Now here he was, or whatever remained of him, Thomas dared not look what was inside. He had seen enough on Kiliak.

Heidi moved away from what he assumed was Gregory's final resting place and Thomas took it as a sign to move back, joining Yulia and Bart on the far wall. He hadn't noticed that Landa was already speaking.

"Love the Emperor, for he is the salvation of mankind. Obey his words, for he will lead you into the light of the future. Heed his wisdom, for he will protect you from evil. Whisper his prayers with devotion, for they will save your soul. Honour his servants, for they speak in his voice. Tremble before his majesty, for we all walk in his immortal shadow."

Landa cleared his throat and flipped a page, "A reading from the word of St. Chirosius...I tread the path of righteousness. Though it be paved with broken glass, I will walk it barefoot. Though it crosses rivers of fire, I will pass over them. Though it wanders wide, the light of the Emperor guides my step."

Thomas looked up at the mention of the Emperor.

The Inquisitor now spoke freely, "Though we lose valued companions, fret not brothers and sisters, for the Emperor has welcomed them into his everlasting glory. We will never understand that which they have attained upon the completion of their service to him on high. For your service to him, and us, we thank you...Gregory Varlander, Jonathan Poe. In the Emperor's name, we pray."

Suddenly, everyone in the room began to speak the same language that the man in robes had spoken earlier. Thomas looked to all of them, but they had their heads bowed and at that moment a wave of anxiety passed over him, what were they saying?

"Amen." they finished.

The old man in cream colored robes left the room with his assistant as yet another hunched over assistant entered. This time this one was even more hunched over and wore brown robes that dragged on the floor and carried a platter with a number of small glasses filled with clear liquid. The hunched figure hobbled over to Landa and the Inquisitor took a glass, however he did not drink from it.

The midget hobbled over to Yulia and Bart as they took a glass as did Heidi. Finally, it came to Thomas and offered the final glass on the platter towards him. Thomas took a second to analyze its heavy, almost bestial breathing and the lack of light coming from under its hood. Whatever was underneath that darkened hood, it was not like him.

Thomas took the final glass but did not drink from it as the others hadn't as well. The midget hobbled over to the wall opposite the Inquisitor and began inputting keys on a rectangular command interface. Then, it turned around to face the Inquisitor, who nodded and the hooded figure punched in the corresponding keys.

The coffins slowly moved forward on their rails into waiting hatches at the end of the rails, when the coffins had finished moving into their respective hatches, doors clamped shut and sealed behind them as the wall materialized into that of the space and vacuum just on the other side of the wall. The ship must have turned away from Trivannia as the planet was no longer in view.

Thomas was mesmerized by the sheer number of blinking stars in the background.

Then, his eyes widened as he saw the two coffins slowly venture out into space, he could barely tell where they were because their material was so dark and very quickly, he lost sight of them.

"Farewell." said Landa and downed his glass, the rest of the acolytes quickly followed suit. Heidi, Landa, and the robed servant quickly left the room when they were done while Bart followed the adepta while she wheeled Yulia out a different hatchway.

Thomas looked at his glass and drank its contents.

He spat it back out.

* * *

He didn't get to say goodbye to anyone really before Landa found him wandering the corridors a fair amount of hours after Jonathan and Gregory's funeral. He had looked everywhere he could for Heidi and Bart, but they were nowhere to be found.

The Inquisitor was not in his standard battle dress adorned with symbols of the Inquisition like Thomas had always seen him. Rather he was dressed more elegantly with a dark grey suit fashioned with fancy cuff links and elaborated shoulders.

"Thomas, please come with me. It is time." he said and turned around to move towards the hangar.

Thomas had already been made aware of his fate, and he offered no rebuttal.

Saint Ariette's orphanage, a facility situated outside Trivannia's capital with a modest adoption rate run by an order of sisters similar to Ortencia's. That was all the Inquisitor had told him. This is where he would spend the remainder of his teenage years, until some family adopted him or he reached eighteen. When Thomas had asked what happened then, Heidi had simply shaken her head.

He would leave most of his gear and the book Penelope had given to him on the ship, and he would most likely see nothing of their kind again.

Soon, he and the Inquisitor were bordering an Aquila lander. Thomas took one last look at the hangar bay, now relatively clean compared to the horror house it had been a couple of days earlier. He figured that he would not miss it.

The bays doors closed and the servitor pilot guided the lander out of the hangar and into Trivannia's atmosphere. Only he and the Inquisitor were making this journey to the surface. Landa sat opposite him, eyes closed and breathing normally even in the turbulence the lander was flying through. Thomas on the other hand was moving wildly in his seat straps.

It took quicker than he would have liked for the Aquila to come within range of its destination, which appeared to be a small airfield amid the grassy plains. From the view port he could see a massive city in the distance, towers and skyscrapers reaching up into the clouds.

The Aquila's landing struts touched the ground just as the bay doors opened and Landa was already walking down the ramp by the time Thomas began unbuckling his straps and grabbed what little clothes belonged to him in his pack.

As soon as he got outside, he was met by a warm blast of air from Trivannia's humid climate and he squinted from the brightness of its nearby sun. When his eyes adjusted, he found the Inquisitor standing right in front of him on the tarmac looking down at him.

He remembered the warm smile the Landa had given him when they had first met and to his surprise, he was wearing a similar one now.

"How do you feel Thomas?" he asked.

Thomas shouldered his pack and replied, "Much better."

"I'm glad."

With his hands behind his back and looked down at the boy. This was a far different wardrobe than Thomas had previously seen him in.

"I wish events could have turned out differently Thomas Makeo, but I stand by what I said. The security of the Imperium is forever at stake, and I have little time for side matters." He said, noticing that the boy was now not even looking at him. The Inquisitor could tell that the boy was saddened, no doubt about that.

He pursed his lips, "I have nothing else for you. Farewell Thomas Makeo, may you serve the Emperor in your own right." he stuck out his hand. To his surprise, Thomas reached up and with a pained smile, shook it.

The Inquisitor nodded and turned on his heel before walking back to the Aquila.

Thomas watched Landa board the Aquila as its engines fired again, blowing powerful gusts so that he stumbled back a couple of steps. As its landings struts retracted, instead of heading up into the sky from where it had come, it switched directions and flew off into the direction of the city, where it grew smaller and smaller until he was sure it was no longer in sight.

"Thomas T.A.J. Makeo?" asked a voice suddenly from behind him and he jumped a bit out of surprise before turning around to see three people behind them. The woman in between the two armsmen looked a lot like Sister Ortencia, but her uniform was different not to mention her skin color and face. It reminded him all to well of the fact that he'd probably never see her again.

He blinked.

The woman nodded, "My name is Sister Beatrice, I am an adepta at St. Ariette's. Please follow me." she turned around and gestured for one of the armsmen to grab Thomas' pack as the other one came up beside him. Thomas wondered why he would need an escort of two heavily armed men, but he did not as they came over the hill to find a truck parked on the side of the road, an large overhang covering its back.

When they reached the vehicle, Beatrice said, "Please get in, it is a relatively quick drive to St. Ariette's. In the mean time, you can socialize with the other occupants."

"Other occupants?" Thomas asked, but Beatrice did not answer him as she instead moved towards the cabin of the large truck. The armsmen gave Thomas' pack back to him before following Beatrice into the cabin. The other one directed him towards the back and Thomas climbed in, sweeping aside the covering.

Six pairs of eyes turned to look at him, all belonging to faces that looked around his age. Their solemn faces told Thomas all he needed to know in an instant-these boys and girls were orphans or runaways just like him, though he imagined that his situation was unique among them. He let his pack fall to the floor and he took a seat near the entrance to the back of the truck opposite the armsmen.

Soon the truck roared to life and began heading in another direction, each passing second furthering the distance between Thomas and the Inquisitor, for better or worse.

He looked up at the armsmen, who seemed to be more focused on the trail behind them than conversing. Turning to the other teenagers, he saw them all minding their own business, though one that stood out to him in particular was the bulkier girl off to his right with what looked like purple hair cut at her shoulders and an unrecognizable tattoo on her cheek. Everyone else seemed completely normal.

The girl was hunched over in her seat, looking at the ground before her eyes rolled to Thomas. She saw him looking at her and she smirked, saying, "Ya want somethin'?" over the rumble of the engine. Her speech sounded butchered.

Thomas blinked and thought about her question. He shook his head.

The girl's smirk intensified as she snorted and leaned back in her seat and she shut her eyes.

"How odd." Thomas whispered to himself. He wondered about the ages of these fellow teenagers, if he was going to St. Ariette's-a supposed orphanage, then they had to be at least slightly younger and older than himself. He looked off into the open back of the truck, seeing the edges of the city to the right and the open fields on his left, and the airfield in the middle. The sky looked swollen and ready to release its cargo of precipitation amid the humid climate.

Suddenly, he felt the bench shift and he turned back to see a rather skinny boy staring at him through round monocles and curly brown hair. The boy pushed them onto a better position on his nose and smiled.

He extended his head, "The name's Rodney, but you can call me Squeaks. Everyone calls me that but I'm not sure why I mean, I've gone through puberty and my voice has deepened, it's kind of out dated don't you think?"

Thomas stared at him dumbfounded until he replied, "Yes."

That was the reply Squeaks appeared to be looking for, "I thought so, you hear that Mari? One for me!" he turned to the girl with the purple hair, who exhaled sharply out her nose and continued resting. Thomas looked down at Squeak's hand and grasped it firmly.

"Thomas Tiberian Aurelius Julciad Makeo."

Squeak's eyes widened and he wrinkled his brow, "Mind if I just call you Thomas?"

Thomas nodded.

"So...Thomas, what brings you into this rundown truck?" Squeaks asked.

Thomas blinked before answering, "I was dropped here by..." his voice trailed off. He didn't know what to say, he simply stared at Squeaks.

A couple of the fellow orphans looked at Thomas strangely while others still paid him no heed.

Squeaks lips trembled before he burst out laughing, slapping his knee and nudging Thomas, "This guy's a born comedian Mari! Mari? Ah ya sore wench get over yourself. Anyway that's a good one Tommy, but really, what brought you here?"

Thomas opened his mouth to reaffirm what he said when the truck ground to a halt and the armsmen hopped out, yelling into the compartment, "Alright, get out, all of you."

Thomas grabbed his own pack holding with what few belongings he had left and jumped down from the truck onto the ground, followed closely by Rodney...or Squeaks and the purple haired girl. The other armsmen came around behind the orphans and nudged Mari forward in the back when she tried to step away from the group, the girl cursed to herself.

He raised an eyebrow and turned away from Mari to look at what Squeaks was staring at.

A large concrete wall stood a couple of yards in front of them, the top of it was layered with barbed wire, beyond the wall was the hint of some buildings within the orphanage but Thomas could see little else. He looked behind him and saw the capital looming in the distance, they must have traveled a couple of miles out of the city to the east.

"Please follow me and stay in line." Sister Beatrice spoke firmly, the slender women led the way towards the entrance as Thomas was the first to follow her lead. The entrance appeared to be a large gate opened outward to invite them in. The rest of the teenagers fell in behind him with the armsmen taking up positions behind the group.

"This place gives me the shivers." Squeaks said coolly behind Thomas, who continued scanning the large concrete structures and walls that made up the facility.

Mari's eyes were darting from spot to spot, never remaining in more than one spot, but Thomas didn't take notice.

"Eyes front boy." snapped one of the armsmen and Thomas shifted his gaze forward, wary of the armsmen attitude. He reminded him too much of the Devil Dogs and their attitude.

Thomas followed the train of orphans and misfits into an uncertain place. Not once did thoughts of the Inquisitor, Heidi or Yulia, cross his mind.

* * *

_"Is it done? Is he there?"_

_"Yes."_

_"How did he take it?"_

_"Surprisingly well, though, he could have been hiding how he truly felt."_

_"You know this isn't what he wanted."_

_"Its what I wanted. I cannot raise a teenage boy who is missing half his mind while the Imperium crumbles around us. Scared at the mere sight of aliens...I was too once, but that was before I went through the Progenium, not a place for someone like him. He belongs out far away from the war, farming or...having a great many children."_

_"Probably the nicest thing you've ever said to him and he wasn't even present."_

_"I did allow him aboard this ship."_

_"Technically, that's Tessa's call."_

_"The Captain would have denied him faster than I would have if I had decided so. She isn't exactly a mother either."_

_"So you admit it."_

_"That I was a father? Perhaps for the briefest of instances when I made arrangements for him planet side. The boy has potential, make no mistake, but not in the likes of our business. Are you distraught at his departure?"_

_"Perhaps. I enjoyed talking with someone that wasn't A-a machine or B-some trigger happy moron sleeping in your money bag."_

_"As did I. Curious, exploring the mind of a growing boy. He reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age. Scared...tempted...eager to please. That was before Inquisitor Raley showed up at my family's mansion and dragged me to the nearest Progenium."_

_"Sounds a lot like his short tenure here. Nursed back to health and then thrown into the melting pot with a screaming xenos. You never told me exactly why you sent him away."_

_"As I said, I cannot afford to look after-"_

_"We both know that's not the truth."_

_"Is it? Why could I not afford to? I understand, I really do. I understand when a hive ganger or some rotten slum dog goes his entire life without having heard a word from the Ecclesiarchy. What I have a problem with is teaching it to a boy who stares with blank eyes. I am no witch, I cannot tell if it is flying past his head or going straight to his sorry excuse for a memory bank."_

_"He was learning."_

_"Under two personnel who are now dead. I made my contract with them and now it is void. Thomas' current position is a result of that void."_

_"How do you plan on informing Tali?"_

_"Perhaps a visit to the last remaining Vicar is in order, but not now, we are summoned."_

_"Where to?"_

_"Blacksite. Lord Parthon wishes our presence."_


	16. The Boy Who Could Run

**A couple of days later...**

Thomas awoke in the morning to an itchy feeling on his stomach and then on his neck line. He grunted as he scratched where his uncomfortable shirt rubbed against his skin.

The sun was beginning to shine through the upper windows of the resting hall and with the various stein glass scattered around the walls, one could have assumed it was late afternoon. He rubbed his eyes and looked to his left, Squeaks was still asleep in his own cot with his back to him. This thing was far more uncomfortable than the nice, serene infirmary under Sister Ortencia's care.

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stared at the ceiling for some time until he began to hear the other orphans rustle in their beds as well. Soon, the hall was filled with their early morning talk and gossip. Squeaks however, was still asleep.

It has been a couple of days since he had arrived at the orphanage and since then it had been endless tours of the place, getting to know every single hall and building that the concrete walls encompassed. All of the orphans, male and female, slept in the same hall in rows upon rows of cots. Armsmen patrolled the walls and sometimes inside as well.

He had been stripped of his pack and his clothes he had arrived in and given a simple tunic, pants, and shorts to change out of. He hadn't been particularly happy about that since his new "uniform" was very itchy.

Squeaks turned in his cot but did not wake up.

Thomas looked around, in approximately ten minutes, an adepta would enter through the north doors, signaling breakfast time.

He hadn't seen Mari since the previous morning. Two adeptas had appeared while they were walking in line and hustled her away, though Mari knew better than to struggle against them. Thomas hoped for the best, but this place was utterly new and ominous, he did not know what to think.

As if by cue, Thomas was alerted by something dropping onto his bed. He blinked a couple of times before sitting up and noticing Mari sitting at the edge of the bed, kicking her feet out at the edge. Though, there was something very different about her.

"I hate it." She said simply.

Where her hair had once been a deep shade of purple, now it was as white as a cloud and cut to a length just below her jaw line. She turned her head to Thomas and glared at him.

"They forced that upon you?" Thomas asked and Mari nodded.

"There isn't a chance that they're gonna get me to become one of them." she said, tipping her head at a passing adepta dressed in their traditional robes and covers.

"I can tell." he replied, "I like it."

Mari's eye twitched before Squeaks spoke up, who had overheard the two talking, "Calm yourself sis, liking and approving are two different things, didn't you just hear what he said?"

While the elder girl looked to Squeaks, Thomas' head snapped between the two at the slang term, "sis".

Squeaks continued, "I don't think he approves that they forcefully dyed your hair but he does like this color as opposed to that hideous shade you previously had. Right Thomas?"

Thomas had to shake his head and nod in order to snap himself out of his bewilderment.

"You're...siblings?" he asked

Squeaks shrugged his shoulders, "We like to call ourselves that. Sure, we don't have the same parents, but we've been looking out for each other ever since we can remember."

"Where were you when they dragged me off to have their way with me?" Mari raised an eyebrow and fiddling with her hair.

Squeaks threw up his hands, "Saint's sake Mari you make it sound like they tortured you with needles, I think your wounded pride is speaking."

"You're orphans." Thomas looked between the two.

The younger boy shrugged his shoulders, "Aren't we all? This planet may be rich but its still got...its stains. Barely remember my parents...kinda just grew up on the streets with Mari." he looked at the girl, "Them upper class cats..." he almost spat, "They would like to see us all in some gutter somewhere, but we find ways to survive."

Mari added, "Would've stayed here if smart monocles over here hadn't been spotted by the angel of purity." she rolled her eyes at another passing adepta.

"It was an accident, I was hungry." Squeaks looked to Thomas and continued, "They grabbed us both and threw us in a truck with the guys with big guns. That's where we met you."

Thomas pursed his lips and then said, "They round orphans up...No choice." he looked around the hall to the various orphans, some of whom moped around, gathered in their own social groups, or just plain kept to themselves.

"You ever gonna tell the truth?" Mari asked, and Thomas looked at her oddly until he realized. Neither of them looked inclined to believe his story about where he had come from, when he had mentioned the Inquisitor. He figured he should downsize his own origins.

He answered, "I awoke one day and started traveling. This couple took me in, they're...dead now. Their superior took me in...but I don't think he...liked my company. He sent me here."

Squeaks shrugged his shoulders, "Hell of a lot smoother than your first story."

Thomas smiled weakly and looked at the ground. He looked at the two and asked, "Do you believe we will find...families?"

They both answered immediately, "No."

He raised an eyebrow.

Mari shook her head, "No one wants us. This is Trivannia. Upper class. Aristocrats. You know..._high borns_. This place ain't an orphanage. It's a grinder for the Guard."

Thomas looked to Squeaks and the younger boy looked to the ground. Mari leaned in, "There ain't no way they're sending me off to fight some damn war we're I'm guaranteed to die. No, that's why-"

"Mari please-" Squeaks began.

"We're getting out of this place." she looked around the walls and folded her arms. She looked to Thomas, "You're welcome to join too, if you want."

Squeaks held his hand out, "Don't listen to her Thomas, she's always been rebelli-"

"You shut your mouth, I'm older. You do what I say." Mari almost snapped and the younger boy cowered. Thomas almost bristled at Mari's sudden outburst. There was something about Mari's attitude towards her younger brother that may have appeared like superiority, but he had seen something similar in the Inquisitor's eyes. He just couldn't put words to what it was.

She sighed, "But not yet, we'll scout the place out first, then figure something out. We've got plenty of time."

Squeaks didn't answer.

"Where will you go back to?" Thomas asked.

Mari lifted her chin and something told Thomas that she had already thought this through, "We're getting off this planet, away from all this." she waved her hand at the orphanage around her, "Always wanted to join up with a crew that goes by their own rules, hell, maybe we'll start our own."

"Sounds like I'm being recruited with no questions asked." Squeaks sighed and kicked his feet over the edge of his bed.

His sister tilted her head at him, "Ah come on don't be like that, think about it Squeaks you're a genius when it comes to tech, think about how useful you'll be!"

Squeaks snorted and got off his bead before replying, "I'm getting breakfast. _You're_ welcome to join too, if you want." he ended with a sarcastic tone thrown in Mari's direction. With that he got off the bed and began moving towards the dining hall in the northern end of the building.

Thomas looked at Mari when Squeaks was out of ear shot, "Perhaps...you should give him time."

"I've given him sixteen whole years to think about it." Mari scoffed and folded her arms, "I'm a year older than him and I've only got a little time before they start eyeing me for the guard and like I said, ain't no way in hell I'm going down there."

Thomas had heard the term, "Imperial Guard", thrown around about the _Wings of Dynasty_, but had never bothered to pursue it.

Mari upped her chin at him, "How old are you?"

Thomas shrugged, "Probably Squeak's age...or younger, I know not which."

"Huh, go figure. A kid comes in talking about being dropped off by some secretive organization and he can't even count the days." Mari smirked. Thomas responded by narrowing his eyes and moving to follow Squeaks into the dining hall. Mari frowned and ran to catch up with them.

The dining hall was smaller than the sleeping wing with a massive row of dishes lined up along the northwest corner. Servitors moved to and from that area to the kitchen periodically. The children were all lining up to await their turn to get a plate. Something about seeing so many children in identical clothing sent a shiver down Thomas' spine but he could not pinpoint why.

"I wonder what they will give us today." Thomas asked.

"Just wait and see, then you'll _know _this is a meat factory for the guard." Mari said from behind him. Thomas looked forward to see that Squeaks was a couple of spots in front of him. His brief spat with Mari seemed to have had a lasting effect.

Thomas leaned back to speak to Mari more clearly, "Why does your brother not like your plan?"

"Never liked getting in trouble, never liked being chased, always wanted to stay in one place and live like everything will just pass over him. Look where that got us." she tapped her foot on the ground.

Thomas had not been given any sort of reason to escape from this place, though Mari seemed dead set on the idea. Even then, there were yard high concrete walls that they had to find a way over.

**+Step forward.+**

The mechanical voice reminded Thomas so much of the Magos Explorator that he almost blurted out Eremis' name. He turned around to see a very different machine staring back at him that pushed a plate towards him from behind the counter. This one's cogs and machinery were still visible from under its partially patched skin. Its head was half decomposed and half optics, one eye glowing blue right at him.

It smelled even stronger than the food.

Thomas grabbed the plate and the servitor called out again in the same exact tone.

**+Step forward.+ **this time Mari grabbed her plate and moved to follow Squeaks. The trio made their way back to their cots. They had been served cold mashed potatoes and another type of cold meat. Nothing on the plates was warm as Squeaks and Mari looked to each other. Thomas however, was on the verge of swallowing his plate whole.

"How can you eat this slop?" Mari asked, "Its as if they made it this way on purpose."

Thomas looked up at her with a full mouth, then at Squeaks, he swallowed. He shook his head and smiled, "Food is food. I'm hungry."

"I'm not." Squeaks sighed and handed his plate to Thomas, as did Mari.

It may not have been like the meals he had had in his previous role, but as much as Thomas was hungry, he was curious. These new tastes and the difference between warm and cold, good and bad food was enticing to him.

Once Thomas had wolfed down all three plates, he sighed and raised his eyebrows at the two, who were now eyeing him suspiciously.

"What?"

"We've agreed you're one weird kid." Mari said.

Squeaks pushed his monocles up his nose and said, "When we were on the truck, you told us you had been with a...uh...a uh..."

"Inquisitor." Mari jumped in.

"Right, that. So let me put it this way Tommy..." he leaned in towards Thomas and then looked around at the rest of the gathered orphans. He leaned in further as did Mari, "I"ll bet you none of these kids in here have even uttered that word let alone heard it. Mari and I? Heh...we've read enough illegal material to know just what kinda stuff goes on up there." he pointed towards the roof but Thomas knew he mean't beyond the planet, in the greater Imperium.

Squeaks made motions with his mouth but failed to come up with the words. He took a breath and said, "I like you Tommy, I do, but uh...is there something you're not telling us? Ya know...anything?"

A bell rang, cutting off whatever reply Thomas had been thinking of. It rang for a good seven seconds and then clicked four times. The trio had learned from their walking lessons from the adeptas that this was recreational time, for three hours.

He didn't know why, but Thomas felt uncomfortable answering Squeaks' question. He had told him the truth when they were on the truck, why did neither he nor Mari believe him? Was he truly not telling them something?

Thomas shook his head and got up, speed walking towards a side exit of the hall. He pushed open the door and breathed in the fresh air. The sun was rising into the sky and their was a hint of fog on the horizon. He walked across the blacktop adjacent to the hall and stared out towards the capital city in the distance. Even with the tall concrete walls surrounding the orphanage, he could see skyscrapers pointing towards the clouds above.

Mari and Squeaks joined him a couple of moments later.

"Look, I'm not trying to say you're a liar or anything Tommy but usually when someone asks you a question you don't give them an answer straight from the arse of a highborn, one of lies and deceit." Squeaks spread his hands to emphasize his point, but Thomas wasn't listening, he was staring at the sun.

He had never seen a sunrise before. On his awakening planet, the skies had been overcast and cloudy. Kiliak had been a giant sand bowl. He was mesmerized by the sight of not only it, but being able to actually breath fresh air and not have to duck under railings and low doors. Thomas spread his arms and legs, he felt the need to be active. After all, he had three hours to kill.

He looked around.

The black top extended for about twenty more yards before it reached another fenced off area. There were stands on the other side of the area but still inside the fence line. From what he could see, there were already people inside that grassy area, running around but at this level and distance, he could not see what they were doing.

His curiosity peaked he began speed walking again towards the gate to the field at the edge of the blacktop.

Squeaks caught up to him, "Let's say I believe you huh? Let's say you were brought here by the most secretive organization known to humans, what the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"I am amnesic." Thomas said without turning around. Mari and Squeaks stopped in their tracks while Thomas continued walking along the fence line, watching the boys and girls run through the pitch, his eyes wide and alert to what they were doing.

Squeaks' eyes looked between Thomas and Mari before he ran to catch up with the former, "S-S-So you mean you don't remember anything?"

"The only thing I have ownership...over...is my name." Thomas said as he reached the gate to the field, his eyes traveled from player to player as he watched the game unfold while gripping the fence tightly.

Squeaks looked to Mari, who shrugged. He sighed and said, "Well...maybe it'll all come back to you one day. Maybe...maybe if you see something that reminds you of something it could be that spark ya know?" He joined Thomas in watching the game, "Like these guys, they're playing-"

"Scrumball." Thomas answered sharply and opened the gate to walk onto the sidelines. At that moment, a cry rang out as one of the boys was tackled to the ground. His tackler got off him but the victim moaned and rolled on the ground, clutching his knee.

"Wait a minute, I thought he just said he can't remember a damn thing." Mari said, narrowing her eyes.

"Thomas wait!" Squeaks called after Thomas but he was already speed walking towards the benches. The younger boy threw his hands up and rushed after Thomas with Mari sighing and following suite.

Two other boys were helping their injured teammate to the sideline, he looked unable to walk on the knee that was ailing him. Meanwhile his tackler was being congratulated by his teammates on the far side of the sideline.

Thomas walked over to the team's crowd that had gathered around the injured player.

"What do we do? Emmie is our best return man." one girl spoke up worryingly. Thomas looked to her and then to the rest of the faces in the huddle, none seem to have noticed his arrival as Squeaks and Mari were coming up behind him. They all appeared to have grass markings and mud around their feet, they must have been playing hard to look this worn out.

Another boy, a one slightly shorter than Thomas, shook his head, "I swear I'm gonna sock that motherfucker after the game, all he's good at is illegal hits. What I wouldn't give for a damn ref."

There was a grumble in the huddle as they tried to calm the boy by the name of Emmie down, who was still groaning in pain and favoring his left knee.

"Ain't no good going to come out of that." Another boy who crossed his arms, "The sisters would whip us if they found out...no...they'd whip only _you _Teague." He gestured to the whole group, "We're losing 67-22. Might as well play it safe till' the games over, no use letting Harper beat the rest of us into submission."

Some voices rose up into agreement but Teague, the apparent captain, waved them off, "We're finishing this game the proper way. Plain and simple. We play and we lose or we play and we win, I ain't gonna give mother fucker over there any free passes. We straight?"

Again the team delved into an argument as Thomas looked between them.

"Alright alright. Beau and Fae, get Emmie over to the infirmary, and make sure to tell em' just what the hell Harper's been doing. I want that motherfucker fucked." Teague snapped as his other teammates tried to calm him down.

Fae and Beau took off Emmie's cleats before helping him up and guiding him back towards the primary complex.

"Were still missing a return man." said the girl from before.

"Thanks Bridgett, I heard you the first time." Teague rolled his eyes, "Well I guess I can try and fill in, shouldn't be too hard."

The larger boy shook his head, "No way Teague, we need you up front, can't play two positions at once, you'll be gassed in a couple seconds and then this game will really be over."

"Well then who the hell will?" Teague threw his hands up.

"I'll play." Thomas piped up, and all eyes in the team huddle turned to him as one.

There was a couple seconds of silence before Teague scrunched his face and asked, "Who the fuck are you?"

Just then Squeaks and Mari arrived, the former breathing heavily from having to catch up to Thomas so fast. He raised a finger and said, "That there is Thomas. My name is Rodney and this is Mari. We're kind of new here and we were trying to catch our friend here but he seems to be a little out of it so we'll take him off your hands-"

Before Squeaks could continue, Thomas disregarded him and took a step towards Teague, "I"ll play for you." he said with a very confident voice.

Teague flinched for a moment before he laughed, "Sorry but I don't just go accepting new kids on my team. All these guys and girls I trust and have played with. You on the other hand..." he scrunched his face again, noticing that Thomas was indeed muscular for his age, "...um, I haven't played with."

"Exactly, now Thomas come on let's just go get something to eat." he nudged Thomas' arm.

"I'm starving." Mari sighed.

Thomas demanded, "Let me play. I _can _play."

"Hey short stuff, you forfeiting or what?" a voice called from the opposing team followed by a chorus of laughter. Teague had to be held back from breaking the huddle to storm over to the opposing team.

Teague looked from Thomas to the rest of his team before sizing Thomas up again, "You ever played before...Thomas?"

"I can run fast." he replied, wrinkling his brown.

"Hey! We're startin' up again! Get ur pansy arses on the field!" came yet another jeer from the opposing squad.

Teague and Thomas were engaged in a stare down as the boys and girls surrounding them looked on. Squeaks looked anxious as to the outcome while Mari actually seemed interested. Teague's larger enforcer simply looked between the two of them.

Finally, the captain held up his hands, "Alright, alright...you can play and take Emmi's spot, but your on your own for now. Plus, don't get too comfortable because once Emmi's back, he's replacing you. Got that?" he pointed at Thomas.

"I understand." Thomas replied with a nod.

"Then let's go, and hope the saints have looked in our direction for once." Teague sighed and the starting team took the field. Thomas quickly replaced his own shoes with Emmi's cleats, they were a bit snug but could not fit any more firmly, he could hardly believe his luck.

Squeaks' mouth trembled, "I...can't believe this is happening."

Mari watched as Thomas tried out his new cleats and stretched for a couple of moments, repeatedly raising and narrowing her eyebrows as Thomas removed his shirt and wiped away the sweat on his face. He motioned his body left and right, before taking the field near the back end of his team's marked goal on the right hand side.

"I...I..." Squeaks' grasped his head.

"Relax Squeaks." Mari scoffed, "Let the kid run."

* * *

_Drosso Higgins was having just another one of those days. The kind of day where the sun was high in the sky, a sign of a beautiful day but in actual fact it was humid and miserable out in the bleachers overlooking the scrumball field. He almost regretted coming here, even more so bringing along his partner, Jeremiah Gibson._

_"These kids ain't got nothin' for us." Gibson said. What the younger man lacked in speech capability he made up for in calculations and statistics, being able to pinpoint almost to the dot where the prime candidates would pop up. Probably the only reason why he was hired. Higgins on the other eye had a keen eye for just what kids would be likely to bear the qualities he needed._

_Higgins moved his eyes in Gibson's direction on the right, "Patience."_

_"That's what you always say. Ain't no good comin' out of it this time." Gibson replied, nodding to himself._

_The elder man waved his hands toward the field, "We've only been here half an hour and the kids just got onto the field when we arrived. So I do actually think you need to have some patience, or is that word even in your vocabulary?"_

_"Course it is!" Gibson replied sharply._

_"Then pipe down and take my notes down." Higgins pointed to the teenagers now coming onto the field for another reset. He tapped his fingers on his chin and lifted his binoculars. _

_"Alright, alright...you got the list of names? Good, good. Alright I see...Teague, Henderson...Alfonso, Gregor...Navian, Petra...all of em' good runners." Higgins put down his binoculars and counted the number of players on the field before lifting them up again._

_He tapped Gibson on the shoulder, "Whose the big fella that looks like the governor? White skin, brown hair, missing his front left tooth."_

_"That would be...Tart, Porter. You serious Higgs? Kid's pretty chunky, boss ain't gonna be happy if we bring that kid back." Gibson shook his head._

_"No...no I was just checking, besides, kid looks like he's missing half his brain. That ain't gonna do us any good. Alright...how about...that one, medium build, long hair cover one side of his face." Higgins said._

_Gibson flipped through his notepad containing the names and faces of the orphans, "Kal, Xavier. Kid looks like he's gonna need to eat a whole grox to even make weight."  
_

_Higgins shook his head and didn't answer, his binoculars scanned the field as the teams lined up for the kickoff, "What about the one with the green cleats? The captain on the left side."_

_"He could be of use, but the pretty lady says he's got attitude problems, don't take orders from nobody. I'm serious Higgs we ain't gonna find no dim witted kid whose got the body we need." Gibson said and sighed, "Might as well just report back to the boss empty handed..." he shivered, "Again."_

_"Throne." Higgins cursed as the ball was kicked into the air. He followed it in the air for a little bit before sighing and putting down his binoculars. Looking at Gibson, he shook his head, "We can't, we can't go back now. This is the last place for a hundred miles that even allows these kids to play."_

_Gibson shrugged his shoulders and returned to looking at the field half heartedly as the ball landed in one of the boy's hands at the opposite end of the field. He pursed his lips as the boy broke into a run and the kicking team swarmed in to tackle him._

_He exhaled out his nose and allowed his head to drop into his hands._

_He looked up slowly to the sound of cheering coming from the receiving team's bench._

_Higgins squinted and leaned forward at the pile of bodies on the field, trying to determine what was going on._

_Suddenly, the boy he saw receive the kickoff burst out from what he was certain had been a sure tackle dog pile and sprinted forward, wearing signature blue cleats. The boy's body was moving incredibly, so much so that Higgins scrambled for his binoculars to get a closer look._

_The boy leaped over a girl that had dove for his feet and sidestepped another that had come right after her. He began running again but this time an opposing boy had caught up to him and reached for his left arm. The boy simply stuck out his arm into the face of his opponent and stopped him dead in his tracks._

_Now, the boy only had the big one known as Porter Tart standing front of him. The bigger boy spread out his arms and smiled as if he was taunting the returner. When the boy got closer, Porter started forward to envelop him in a bone crushing tackle._

_The boy began to dodge left as did Porter but all of a sudden jerked to the right faster than a blink of an eye. The movement was so sudden that the only way Higgins knew it had happened was that Porter was crumpling to his feet, his ankles so cruelly broken by the far faster boy._

_The boy promptly trotted into the opposite end zone, much to the delight of his team, who came running from all over the field to congratulate him._

_"Gibson? Gibson! What's the name of that kid? The one with the dark skin and black hair? He's got the blue cleats on! Damn it man hurry up and find me that boy! By the Saint he's got the body of a Solympian!"_

_Gibson was confused as he flipped through his notebook, "I-I-I don't know Higgs I...that kids' not in the book!"_

_"What the fucking hell? What do you mean? The kid's got dark skin and black hair, he's the only one like that on the entire field!"_

_"Ehem, scuse' me gentlemen." a voice piped up. Higgins and Gibson turned to their right._

_A couple, very elegantly dressed in black were sitting not a couple of feet away. The woman was holding an umbrella that just barely fit over her large headdress and it looked like not a single inch of her skin was showing save for her face with was covered by a webbed veil. The man was wearing a long coat that split in two along the small of his back and had a very noticeable, curving mustache._

_The most interesting aspect of the woman was her mechanical left eye that glowed red under the veil._

_Higgins and Gibson stared at them dumbfounded._

_"I so apologize for interupptin' your conversation," she chuckled, "but I could not help but overhear you talkin' about my son."_

_Higgins blinked a couple of times and opened his mouth to speak. He looked at Gibson and the other man opened his hands in a gesture of even more confusion. The elder man sighed and raised a hand towards the couple, "My apologies ma'am and sir."_

_His voice was shaky, they most be aristocrats from the capital, and he dared not trip over his own words._

_"But eh...eh..." he began._

_"These boys and girls be orphans ma'am." Gibson piped up much to Higgins relief._

_The woman raised a hand to her veil and chuckled again, "Not that one." she point out onto the field. Higgins and Gibson followed her finger to what they could only assume was the boy that had just sprinted by the entire opposing team to score._

_She turned back to them, "As of sixteen hours ago, that boy is my son." she looked away from the two men, "Ever since the professionals told me I was...b-b-b-barren..." she hesitated as the man rubbed her arm and whispered soothing words into her ear._

_The couple turned to the men, this time the women was smiling, "We've just been looking for the most darling young boy to complete our fabulous household. Oh, Gerald I do believe we have forgotten to introduce ourselves. My name is Duchess Arlena Reynold and this is my husband the Duke Reynold IV himself!"_

_Fear and panic washed over the men like a flood, neither of them had ever heard of such a royal house but neither were either of them willing to test that fact based on the couple's looks and speech. __This woman must have just recently adopted this boy._

_Higgins looked to Gibson and motioned to the couple warily, together they got up and walked down the stands to the row of seats just in front of the couple, "My apologies for my attitude madam, my name is Drosso Higgins and this is my associate Jeremiah Gibson."_

_"Pardon me ma'am. But if you adopted that boy, how come he still playin' with all the orphans? How come his name ain't on my list?" Gibson held up his notepad shakily. Higgins very nearly clamped his hand over Gibson's mouth but it was too late._

_This time, it was the man that spoke, "My boys, my boys! You know how paper work takes so long these days, and this orphanage is gigantic. We won't be able to pick up our son for another week or so."_

_Then, the woman spoke in a very stern voice, "Why do you have a list of all these orphans?"_

_Gibson opened his mouth but Higgins made sure to speak first, "First of all ma'am, let me apologize for anything we might have said about your son...w-w-we had no idea he was at the time."_

_"That did not answer my question Mr. Higgins, why do you have a list of all these orphans?" the woman asked, folding her arms over her purse._

_Higgins tapped his fingers worryingly and he looked to Gibson, who swallowed and spoke, "Well ma'am...I uh...I pay off this armsmen inside to give me a list of all the kids that uh...uh...are physically fit lets say...heh heh."_

_The woman stared at him intently while the man raised an eyebrow._

_"Well it appears the bo...I mean your son is not on the list...it may be some sort of administorium error or something." Higgins added quickly._

_"I am growing mighty impatient gentlemen, this will be the third time I will ask...why...do you...have a list of all these orphans?" her smile was born of complete sarcasm._

_Higgins cleared his throat, "Well ma'am, Gibson and I here are uh...well we're scouts."  
_

_"For what?" the Duke asked._

_"Trivannia Saints m'Lord." Gibson bowed his head._

_"Just...what are the...Trivannia Saints Mr. Higgins?" The Duchess looked at him with a perpetually questioning face._

_The man smiled weakly and chuckled, "Well uh, ma'am...the Trivannia Saints are a professional sports team...to be exact, professional scrumball."_

_There was a silence that lasted for a while between the four occupants of the stands, nobody spoke but Higgins did notice that the Duchess' one good eye was constantly twitching, as if she could hardly believe that her new son was being scouted by a professional scrumball team._

_She blurted out, "Grox-shit."_


End file.
